The Australian government has recently stated that they will make citizenship requirements more rigorous.
Some of the proposals include a new examination to test English language levels, as well as other social or culturally relevant questions such as the equality between the sexes. A more radical measure includes a requirement to have resided in the country for longer than the original requisite 2 years.
The Australian Prime Minister has echoed the view widely held that multiculturalism should not replace the significance of national identity. Just under 30 percent of the Australian population was born outside Australia leaving many to wonder just what the national identity looks like, or more poignantly, what it is supposed to look like.
Recently, a senior immigration minister asked A Islamic leaders to conduct prayers in the English language, saying that the Imams ought to be more aware of the negative actions some Islamic radicals are performing and the impact these actions had on the wider Islamic population.
Critics have argued that this is a knee jerk reaction to extremes in religion and culture and that these views or actions merely fed into xenophobia.
