…
The Immigration Minister was speaking this morning at a conference in Melbourne’s Hotel Sofitel, which seemed a good occasion for public spirited citizens to lend a hand with the drive to enrol new citizens … They came with a specially prepared test – given in full below – and those who passed were rewarded with a genuine vegemite sandwich, nicely warmed in the Spring sunshine. There was also plenty of zinc cream on hand in case a change of colour was needed.
So he gets a vegemite sandwich
Taking the test
The test itself was not too hard – as one person remarked ‘you don’t need to be right, you only need to be white’. Even so, at least one person failed, admitting she ‘[didn't] actually like vegemite’.
The event was organised at very short notice by Melbourne-based activist group ACDC – or Alliance for Civil Disobedience Co-ordination – and attracted plenty of attention. The Minister himself apparently got in through a side entrance, so it remains uncertain how he would have performed in the test.
As well as the test, passers-by were also handed copies of a recent rebuttal of Kevin Andrews claims issued by the African Think Tank, see http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/immigration-minister-s-allegations-african-refugees-are-unfounded-and-unsubstantiated.
More photos, from Transfer Press on http://www.flickr.com/photos/transferpress/sets/72157602359082962/
Media links:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/11/2056606.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/11/2056475.htm?section=justin
The test:
THE AUTHENTIC AUSTRAYAN CITIZENSHIP EXAMINATION
The Australian citizenship test is:
A) played on boxing day
B) a cynical attempt by the Australian government to show they can
filter out international terrorists and not workers with low level
English
C) free with every pot and parma
D) a good idea
Australia’s first Prime Minister Edmund Barton famously said:
A) “The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to
the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman”
B) “Why must they insist on calling me Toby Tosspot!”
C) “I just don*t know about letting Queensland join”
D) “You know what I think Australia needs? Big things. Heaps and
heaps of big things. I mean I’m talking giant prawns and sheep and
bananas and rocking horses. Ah ha gentlemen.”
The past two hundred years of Australia’s history are:
A) a specialised narrative that if told right gets you on the ABC
board
B) an unfinished war
C) super chillaxed, like one big bar-b-que
D) not something we really need to think about
Immigration minister Kevin Andrews comments about cutting African
refugee numbers was:
A) A sensitive well measured response to the death of a young man
B) Based on the UN refugee agency advice
C) An unusual example of the Liberals using race politics in the lead
up to the election
D) Strange because we don’t let Africans into Oztralia – do we?
Apartheid was first introduced in:
A) Australia with the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the
Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld)
B) South Africa in 1913 with the Land Act
C) 2005 Cronulla
D) 2007 Northern Territory
The 72 Tamil and 7 Burmese Refugees currently incarcerated on Nauru
show that:
A) We have come a long way since Edmund Barton
B) We are a compassionate and flexible county,
C) It helps to be a white Zimbabwean farmer if you’re seeking asylum
in Australia
D) Anybody want some zinc cream?
An Alliance for Civil Disobedience Coordination (AC/DC) initiative:
call 0421 979 694 or 0434 088 766 for more information
[Additional photos posted 5 May 2014]
