Migrant test 'fair dinkum'

For non-Australian readers, the term 'fair dinkum' means something like "genuine" or "serious" or "honest"

A plan to quiz would-be immigrants on Australian history and test their English could not be compared with the White Australia test, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday. The infamous test was administered in European languages until 1958 to keep out Asians who might speak English.

Mr Howard, who proposes to require immigrants to show a reasonable knowledge of English and Australian history, rejected comparisons with the White Australia policy dictation test. "It (English) would have to be a reasonable level but I can't understand how anybody can take exception to that," he said. Mr Howard said anyone ''fair dinkum" about becoming an Australian citizen would not have trouble with the tests. "You'll certainly need to know a good deal more about Australia and about Australian customs and the Australian way of life," he said.

A discussion paper outlining the citizenship test will be released tomorrow, including a requirement that migrants will have to wait four years before becoming Australian citizens. "Certainly we are going to lift the waiting period to four years," Mr Howard said. "There will be a fairly firm English language requirement and the paper itself . . . will contain quite a number of issues."

Attending a Greek community event in Canberra, Mr Howard said Greek immigrants were a "wonderful example" of successful integration. "You integrate fully, you become part of the mainstream, your first loyalty is to Australia, but that doesn't mean you don't have a place in your heart for your home culture," he said. Mr Howard has previously attacked the failure of some Muslim immigrants to Australia to fully integrate.

The citizenship test is part of a wider debate on Australian values, including a proposal by Labor leader Kim Beazley to make all new arrivals in Australia sign a values pledge. But Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said the Government was scaring people for cynical political advantage. "The Immigration Department has spent millions on advertising encouraging permanent residents to become citizens and now the Prime Minister is saying they will have to wait longer. It makes no sense."

Source





Imams urged to correct false use of Koran

More blunt talk to Muslims from the Australian government

Australia's Islamic clerics have been urged to help correct the false use of the Koran by terrorists to justify their evil acts. The Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Robb called on some 100 Australian imams attending a government-sponsored conference to denounce the extremists' misrepresentation of Islam. "We live in a world of global terrorism where vile acts are regularly being perpetrated in the name of your faith," Mr Robb told the two-day conference which started. "Because it is your faith that is being invoked it is your problem. "You cannot wish it away or ignore it just because it has been caused by others."

The taxpayer-funded conference, which was intended for earlier this year, was initially the brainchild of the now divided Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. But organisation of the event was handed to the Muslim Community Reference Group members by Mr Robb after the AFIC failed to get it going. A number of hardcore Islamists have accepted invitations to attend.

Mr Robb urged delegates to preach to young Australian Muslims about the real meaning of the Koran. "I say to you speak up and condemn terrorism," He said. "I know many in your community are doing this .. but too many are silent."

Mr Robb also said it was essential for imams to have effective English language skills. Some 50 per cent of the 360,000 Muslims in Australia are under 25 years of age, and most were born in Australia with English as their first language, he said. "For imams to present Islam in a truly Australian context especially to second and third generations Australian Muslims, it would seem essential that imams be able to speak effective English. "The fact that I needed to have my address translated into several languages very clearly highlights my concern," Mr Robb said. The conference continues for the rest of the weekend.

Source





Pro-terrorist bias denied

Believe it if you like

The Australian Research Council has strongly rejected claims that $24 million of academic research into terrorism is skewed towards the concept that Western policies create terrorists. ARC chief executive officer Peter Hoj said the federally funded council proposed to support research into "the origins, motivations and dynamics of trans-national security threats" in its planned Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security. "The ARC does not give preference to research applications that adopt a particular perspective," Professor Hoj said in a statement prepared for The Weekend Australian. "The ARC seeks to support research that is in the national interest and is of the highest quality."

Professor Hoj was responding to criticism from two Queensland University terrorism researchers, including a former Labor Party foreign policy adviser, that terrorism research in Australia ignored the role of radical Islamism in breeding terrorists. Carl Ungerer, a former foreign affairs and national security adviser to Simon Crean, and David Martin Jones said terrorism research missed the point that "individuals are becoming radicalised into believing that Islam and jihad are a legitimate form of asymmetric warfare". Their comments echo those of James Cook University lecturer in terrorism Merv Bendle, who described terrorism research in Australia as being in crisis.

But Professor Hoj yesterday pointed to five projects funded by the ARC that examined links between terrorism and Islam and the legal responses to terrorist threats. One of the projects identified is on suicide terrorism by Flinders University professor Riaz Hassan, who came under fire from federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock earlier in the week for proposing to interview the heads of terrorist organisations.

Dr Bendle questioned the ARC funding of Professor Hassan's project because he declared in his application that a link between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism was not only spurious, but possibly fostered Western policies that worsened the situation.

Professor Hassan's application for a research grant said most suicide terrorists were not motivated by religious beliefs, such as the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Professor Hassan cancelled his planned visit to overseas terrorist leaders after being warned by Mr Ruddock that he could be breaking the law.

Other ARC projects include an examination of the theological and ideological bases of al-Qa'ida's political tactics and a project looking at Islam and terrorism in Southeast Asia.

But adding weight to the criticisms is a Melbourne University project, which received almost $200,000 from the ARC in 2003 and claims to be the "first systematic and comprehensive philosophical exploration of contemporary terrorism and responses to it". And Australian National University researchers in 2004 received $120,000 to examine "how reactionary sub-groups and ultimate subversive action can develop from denying people the chance to voice their views to relevant authorities".

Source






Spitfires in Australia too

Many Australians flew in them during WWII



Immortalised in film and Churchillian speeches for its role in winning the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire is still the world's most famous military aircraft. More than 20,000 were manufactured to take on the Messerschmitts of Germany and the Zeros of Japan, but today only a few dozen can still be flown. Remarkably, the northern Riverina town of Temora boasts two of them. Thanks to its benefactor and president David Lowy, son of shopping centre billionaire Frank Lowy, the Temora Aviation Museum recently acquired its second Spitfire from New Zealand. Nobody is revealing the price, but airworthy Spitfires don't come for less than $2 million.

The Mark XVI - which saw service with the RAAF in the closing weeks of World War II - will make its public flying debut at the museum today in the presence of the Prime Minister, John Howard.

Mr Lowy founded the museum in 1999 at the Temora Aerodrome, where more than 2000 pilots were trained during World War II using Tiger Moths. The museum specialises in Australian military aircraft and Mr Lowy bought a Mark VIII Spitfire in 2000. It was the last Spitfire acquired by the RAAF, but never saw active duty. The Mark XVI also "belongs in Australia", Mr Lowy said. "It's part of our history. It's home. "It's a beautiful machine. It's a work of art. If you had a lounge room big enough you would hang it in there." The Mark XVI ended up a prop for the 1955 film about the fighter pilot Douglas Bader, Reach for the Sky.

Sitting on the Temora tarmac in its colours from World War II, the plane looks as menacing as ever. Russell Leith, 84, flew it when he was with the RAAF's 453 Squadron based in Britain and he has travelled from Perth to Temora to see it again today. Mr Leith said his plane was used chiefly to attack German rocket installations. "[The Spitfire] was just everything that a pilot would want," the former flight lieutenant recalled. "We didn't ever have an inferiority complex when we were flying it."

Source






Caught one!

A veteran NSW police officer will face a Sydney court tomorrow charged with a string of violent sex offences. The 57-year-old senior constable was arrested at Green Valley police station, in Sydney's south-west, about 5.20pm (AEST) today, police said. He was later charged with 21 sex-related offences against two females between 1979 and 2004. The charges include aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, aggravated act of indecency and common assault. The officer is being kept in custody until his appearance tomorrow to face the charges in Parramatta bail court. His arrest follows an extensive investigation by the NSW Police Professional Standards Command, police said.

Source