Support Labor's opposition to changes

Labor's Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, Tony Burke, is to be congratulated for taking a stand against the proposed changes. Please support his call for quick submissions on this issue. I have cut and pasted his email below. If the click here links do not work, you can ask him to send you the email with the links via tony@tonyburke.com.au Peter Dutton and Malcolm Turnbull want to refuse Australian citizenship to anyone who can’t pass a university-level English exam. It’s snobbery. And it would tell migrant Australians, like so many of our parents and grandparents, that they’re not fully welcome. Right now, the Senate is inviting public submissions on the idea. Will their report say that the community spoke out in huge numbers against this? That’s up to you. Please take a stand by sending a quick email to voice your opposition. Click here. Your submission can be a detailed argument, or simply a short email signed by you. If you’d prefer it to be anonymous, just note that in your submission. Either way, together our voices can have an impact. I know because we’ve done it before. When the Government set out to weaken section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, thousands of us signed petitions, made personal submissions, and shared the message with friends. At every point, we showed that the community was dead against those divisive changes. Now, let’s do it again. When this Senate Inquiry reports its results, we want it to show that the vast majority of submissions were against the changes. Please be part of that -- and also forward this email to anyone you know who would stand against these snobby changes. Click here to make a quick submission Labor believes that requiring university level English is snobbery – it sends a message to Australians who won’t reach university level English that the Government would prefer they weren’t here. This Turnbull proposal would also make people wait four years instead of one, before applying for Australian citizenship. We believe there is no reason to do so. If new Australians want to pledge allegiance to Australia, why would we want to stop them doing so? What security purpose would that serve? Citizenship applicants are already living in Australia permanently, and their entry is subject to strict character and security background checks. No, this isn’t about security. This is about the Turnbull’s Government trying to redefine Australian values, and it’s up to us to stand up for an inclusive, multicultural Australia. Click here to take a minute to write a submission. Kind regards, Tony Burke Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia PS. Peter Dutton is really hoping the community stays silent on this issue. Click here to prove him wrong.