The un-Australian koala

The Prime Minister's citizenship test came into effect today. It's ridiculous that we could be denying people citizenship on the basis that they don't know, for example, that golden wattle is our national floral emblem or Edmund Barton was our first prime minister. This is an assault on democracy, because if you're denied citizenship, you're also denied the vote.

Laura Chipp and I caused a bit of a stir this morning when we posted a video on YouTube (below) in which we accuse a koala of being "un-Australian" for not knowing the answers to the questions on the test. Laura is the Democrats candidate for Isaacs and national spokesperson for the Young Australian Democrats.

I dressed up as a koala and stood outside the building where the citizenship tests were taking place. I held up a sign that read: "I failed the citizenship test. Does that make me un-Australian?" People stopped and talked to me, and many agreed that the citizenship test should go.

What do you think about it? Let me know.



Here's the press release that Democrats leader Lyn Allison sent out this morning:

Democrats candidates accuse koala of being 'un-Australian'

Australian Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison today posted a YouTube video in which two Democrats candidates accuse a koala of being ‘un-Australian’ for not knowing the answers to the Prime Minister’s new citizenship test.

Laura Chipp, candidate for the seat of Isaacs and the youngest daughter of the late Democrats founder Don Chipp, asks the koala: “Dya even know who Australia’s first prime minister was? Or when Australia became a federation?”

Tim Wright, candidate for Melbourne, says: “The Prime Minister’s citizenship test is jingoistic propaganda — it’s the new Aussie cringe.”

Senator Allison also features in the video.

She says that the Prime Minister’s citizenship test “will mean that hard-working, good-hearted and committed people are denied Australian citizenship on the basis that they don’t know the answers to what are, frankly, some pretty obscure and irrelevant questions”.

“You can’t judge a person’s fitness for citizenship based on a test any more than you can judge a political party’s fitness for government based on its promises,” she concludes.