The coalition has announced a new policy which is at least a step in the right direction on Australian citizenship. No doubt spurred by the grotesque spectacle of Labor’s Tony Burke holding cult-like mass citizenship rallies (complete with voter registration booths) in Labor seats, the coalition is moving to tighten, even just a little bit, the current Weeties-packet approach.
The Liberal-National Coalition will introduce a specific section on antisemitism to the Australian citizenship test and establish a dedicated antisemitism task force if elected to government.
This was announced by shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan, who was speaking at an Australian Jewish Association (AJA) online forum.
He said the opposition has comprehensive plans to address rising antisemitism, particularly through immigration and citizenship reforms.
Well, it’s a start. But barely.
What is really needed is a wholesale toughening up of Australia’s citizenship procedures. We should be looking to Switzerland, rather than the US, when it comes to citizenship. Gaining Australian citizenship should not be as easy as it currently is.
While a step in the right direction, the coalition’s approach still reeks of the sort of ‘They Are Us’ Pollyanna thinking that has for too long ruled the immigration roost. Does anyone really think for an instant that this will stop people who hate our values flocking here, where citizenship (and the concomitant welfare) are handed out like sweets in a Western Sydney street after a terror attack?
“We will place a specific section within the Australian citizenship test which will deal with antisemitism, and we will have an educational module which will deal with antisemitism,” Mr Tehan said.
“If you become, or want to become, a citizen of this nation, then you will have a specific section that you will need to undertake with regards to antisemitism.”
And absolutely no one will ever lie, that’s for sure!
On the plus side, a coalition government would at least be tougher on the anti-Semitic ticks who’ve already lodged themselves under Australia’s skin.
The proposed antisemitism task force would be led by the Australian Federal Police and incorporate ASIO, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC, Australian Border Force and state police.
Mr Tehan told the event that the task force will have powers to refer visa holders involved in antisemitic acts for immediate cancellation and deportation.
“If necessary, we will amend the section 501 character provisions of the Migration Act to ensure this antisemitic conduct is captured by the law and applies retrospectively for all acts of hatred towards the Jewish community since the 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks,” he said.
The coalition’s plan includes issuing a new ministerial direction to the AFP to prioritise addressing antisemitism, including unsolved crimes such as doxing, display of terrorist symbols, incitement and harassment.
Mr Tehan also confirmed that dual citizens who support proscribed terrorist organisations could face having their Australian citizenship revoked.
A coalition that really wants to win would also consider stripping citizenship even from the local-born children of immigrants, as a last resort. As numerous studies show, second-generation Muslim immigrants tend to be more radical than their parents. Witness the waving of Lebanese and ‘Palestinian’ flags at a Western Sydney high school recently, not to mention the wave of eager-beaver jihadis who flocked to join the Islamic State. To the fury of many Australians, the latter were not just allowed back, but flown in under a cloak of secrecy and will be ‘monitored’ for years, at the cost of millions each to the Australian taxpayer.
So, two modest proposals: anyone who leaves Australia to join a terror organisation is not allowed back and anyone who professes allegiance to a foreign country or an overseas terrorist organisation gets sent there.
There will be the usual squealing about ‘international law’ and a bunch of globalist ‘declarations’, but so what? ‘International law’ is a law of convenience (we had no qualms about breaking it to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, when it suited us). No Australian was ever consulted on or got to vote on the ‘declarations’ that we were signed up to. A more un-democratic process there can scarcely be.
Time to put ourselves and our allies first.
