Citizenship Minister warns of ghettos unless Australia forces migrants to learn English

This is closing the gate after the horse has bolted. Learning a new language in adulthood is very difficult -- and just about impossible for poorly educated people. The migrants concerned should not have been admitted in the first place.  Proficiency in English should be a uniform requirement for any grant of residency

Australia's Citizenship Minister has warned European-style ghettos will form unless migrants are forced to learn English.

Parts of Paris, Berlin and Brussels have become no-go zones for police as poorer suburbs in major European cities become a haven for Muslim terrorists and violent extremism.

Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge said Australia needed to act to stop ethnic ghettos forming by making migrants sit English language tests.

'What we don’t want is what you see in some European countries where you start to get parallel communities emerge,' he told Sky News today.

The minister from Melbourne, which has been a hive of Sudanese gang activity, said English language tests were an essential part of ensuring migrants integrated into the Australian community.

'In Australia, the secret to our success is we've largely had integrated communities where people have blended together regardless of where they've come from,' he said. 'We want to make sure that continues and central to that is a common language.'

The number of people living in Australia who speak little or no English is rising rapidly, and forecast to reach one million within just three years.

Alan Tudge is expected to announce the new conversation test plans in a speech to the Sydney Institute on Thursday. Mr Tudge will say the government is concerned with the growing number of people who cannot communicate in English, The Australian reported.

'As we ­approach a million without English capability, we will begin to get more social fragmentation,' Mr Tudge's speech reads.  'There are suburbs where up to one in three cannot speak the national language well or at all.

'Further, because of the concentration in particular areas, there is less demand on the individuals to have to interact with other ­Australians.'

Mr Tudge will cite large cities like Sydney and Melbourne, which together are home to 67 suburbs where more than 50 per cent of people were born overseas.

Of those, 28 suburbs have populations with over 60 per cent of people overseas-born, many of whom do not speak English.

In one such suburb, Greater Dandenong in Melbourne's south-east, 61.7 per cent of the 152,000 residents were born overseas, and 17 per cent do not speak English well.

The number of permanent residents who speak little or no English rose from 300,000 in 1981 to 820,000 in 2016. Census data shows that number will hit one million by 2021, 2026 if children are not included.

A conversational English test would replace the International English Language Testing System used to assess skilled migrants.

Mr Tudge will argue a language test is standard in many countries with high immigration, and is not a new idea.

The new mandatory requirement could affect up to 130,000 new arrivals to Australia every year.

This is not the first time Mr Tudge has flagged the importance of English for migrants. In March he suggested migrants must demonstrate they've made an effort to integrate before becoming citizens, steps which could include joining a Rotary Club or a soccer team.

The government has been in talks with crossbench MPs to garner support for changes to citizenship laws that were shot down in the Senate last year.

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Woman begs Christian picketers to leave her alone as they urge her not to enter an abortion clinic

It should be noted that when picketers do succeed in dissuading an abortion, the mothers are usually grateful afterwards that their child was saved

Footage has been posted to Facebook of a woman harassing patients as they enter an abortion clinic. Two videos were posted to advocacy group Young Queenslanders for the Right To Choose last Saturday.

In the first video the protester is seen approaching the doors of Options Clinic in Spring Hill waving a foetus sized doll and exclaiming 'Medical facts say they have a heartbeat from 18 days, please don't terminate your baby.'

The second video shows the religious picketer preaching to a patient. 'God hates the hands that shed his blood,' she tells the woman before she is interrupted.

'Just shut up that is so traumatic. That is so f*cking traumatic.'

The woman tries assuring the patient that she wants to help her, before the patient interjects and tells her she doesn't want her help.

'That baby's got a heartbeat love, please turn away, we can help you,' she says, raising her voice.

The patient goes inside and the woman returns to her place on the sidewalk.

Before the video ends, she turns to the pro-choice volunteers and addresses them. 'That baby's got a heartbeat and what that is is murder, and you guys are standing, you will stand before God as murderers by supporting this horrific act.' 

This incident comes just days after New South Wales passed a legislation to enact safe-access zones around abortion clinics.  This legislation, introduced by Labor MP Penny Sharpe, was passed a week ago and protects patients from harassment and intimidation by protesters with 150 metre zones around the clinics.

The pro-choice young advocacy group Young Queenslanders for the Right To Choose posted the video to Facebook in hopes to spread how traumatic the experience can be

Following New South Wales, Queensland is set to become the next state to legislate safe access zones. Queenland's Law Reform Commission is set to hand down a report into legislation within the next month.

Kate Marchesi, the volunteer who posted the video told Buzzfeed News that she wanted to show how traumatic the protesters could be.

'The protesters outside the clinics regularly say that they are sidewalk counsellors who offer support, help and another option to women accessing abortion clinics, and in my experience attending these clinics as an escort this couldn't be further from the truth.'

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Australian soldiers fly a Nazi swastika flag over their military vehicle in Afghanistan

Military men in all of the services tend to adorn their vehicles and equipment with aggressive iconography and this would have been simply that: minatory but not political

Australian soldiers have been photographed flying a Nazi flag over a military vehicle in Afghanistan.

The disturbing images show a swastika symbol - synonymous with racial hatred, fascism and genocide - hoisted above Australian Defence personnel in 2007.

An army source told the ABC a solider took the flag to the warzone as a 'twisted joke' - not as an expression of Nazism.

They claimed the flag was flown for a 'prolonged period', though the Department of Defence refuted that claim.

'Defence and the ADF reject as abhorrent everything this flag represents. Neither the flag nor its use are in line with Defence values,' a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

'The flag was briefly raised above an Australian Army vehicle in Afghanistan in 2007. The commander took immediate action to have the offensive flag taken down.

'It is totally inappropriate for any ADF vehicle or company to have a flag of this nature... The flag was destroyed once the unit returned from that operation.'

The spokesman said the soldiers involved were cautioned and received further counselling.

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, described the photos as 'deeply troubling and distressing'.

'The flying of the Nazi flag, the most evil symbol in the history of mankind by our soldiers is a slap in the face to the diggers who fought valiantly and died to defeat Hitler,' Dr Abramovich told Daily Mail Australia.

'The swastika represents pure hatred and the crimes of a regime responsible for the most destructive conflict the world has ever known, including the murder of six million Jews and millions of others.

'At a time of escalating anti-Semitism and intolerance, this vile display of bigotry is a reminder of the ever-present need for people of good to speak out against such abhorrence, and that racism is still rampant in parts of our society.'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull slammed the flag as 'completely and utterly unacceptable'. 'It was absolutely wrong and their commanders took action at the time,' Mr Turnbull said in Hobart on Thursday.

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The option to pick your parents: Children could be allowed to choose whether to live with their mother or father under new custody reforms

It would be a disgrace if the kids are not heard on this

Children would have the power to tell judges who they want to live with under drastic new reforms being proposed in one Australian state.      

Queensland Family and Child Commissioner (QFCC) Cheryl Vardon has called for children to be given more say on which parents they live with, the Courier Mail reported.    

She believes judges should consult children in custody disputes to ensure their voices and opinions are heard. 'We need a better way of listening to the voices and opinions of children,' she told the publication. 'With safeguards, we certainly believe children should be heard in court proceedings.

'It's all very well to aim for shared care but that's simply not appropriate if that means the child is going to be damaged further.'

The news comes amid a Federal Government review into the Family Law system. The  inquiry highlights 'protecting the needs of the children of separating families' in its terms of reference.

In its submission to the review, the QFCC said the primary consideration for determining what is in the child's best interests should be the 'need to protect the child from harm'. 

'The legislation should be drafted in such a way to make this explicitly clear,' the commission's submission states.

'While there is a benefit to the child having a meaningful relationship with both parents, this should not be placed above a child's protection.'  

Parents were divided on the reforms on social media on Thursday. One parent said he was concerned the child would pick the 'parent who spoils them'.

Another person said: 'Children don't have the experience to make good judgement and decisions'. 

A more supportive parent described the concept fair. 'The kid's wishes should be considered,' she said.

The Queensland Family and Child Commission, in a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia, said it is important for children to be meaningfully engaged. 

'The QFCC believes it is important for children to be given the opportunity to meaningfully engage throughout proceedings, in ways that are trauma-informed, culturally safe and age appropriate,' the commission stated.

'The opportunity to be heard would of course need to be considered along with other expert inputs to inform a decision.

'The QFCC does not suggest that engaging with a child would lead to, or suggest ‘picking a parent’ as an outcome, rather providing a more inclusive engagement process where children can express their views and have their voices heard.'

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The NBN debacle again

A couple have been quoted over a million dollars to have NBN installed at their house just kilometres from Melbourne's CBD.

Alistair Stewart revealed he was quoted between $800,000 and $1.2 million to have the NBN connected to his house south-east of the Victorian capital.

The Australian Government owned company is currently rolling out the fibre connections to replace current broadband which will provide faster internet services.

While NBN is compulsory, Mr Stewart said the company quoted him the extensive figure because his Jam Jerrup house is seven kilometres away from the nearest connection point

While NBN is compulsory, Mr Stewart said the company quoted him the extensive figure because his Jam Jerrup house is seven kilometres away from the nearest connection point, ABC News reported.

'The best way to put this is that NBN want you to shut up and live with what you've got. "Anything but fibre" is the motto. That's how I feel,' he told ABC Radio Melbourne. 'Outrageous, absolutely outrageous.'

Mr Stewart, who is an IT consultant and often works at home, said NBN was rolled out in his area 18 months ago but he was given the 'terrible' and 'inconsistent' fixed wireless connection - not the better optic fibre connection.

An NBN spokesperson told the publication it was unrealistic to run a fibre seven kilometres for one property and the furthest they had run a wire was two kilometres.

The company said it costs about $30,000 to run a wire just a few hundred metres.

Despite claiming to offer better services, NBN was recently slammed for blaming online gamers for congestion and slow connections.

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