Time to take a citizenship test...

[highlyeccentric]

which reads like year nine history, but anyway. This is the list of sample questions found on the SMH

1. In what year did Federation take place? 1901 correct, thank you for playing!
2. Which day of the year is Australia Day? 25th Jan apparently it's the 26th!
3. Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia? Barton???? maybe??? yes, Barton
4. What is the first line of Australia's national anthem? Australians all eat sausages let us rejoice
5. What is the floral emblem of Australia? WTF? we have a floral emblem? wattle, apparently
6. What is the population of Australia? somewhere round the 20 million mark, i guess 21 millionish
7. In what city is the Parliament House of the Commonwealth Parliament located? canberra
8. Who is the Queen's representative in Australia? gov. general
9. How are Members of Parliament chosen? by election
10. Who do Members of Parliament represent? erm, technically, their electorate.
11. After a federal election, who forms the new government? the elected party? What kind of question is this?
12. What are the colours on the Australian flag? blue, red, white. someone care to explain why knowing this is important?
13. Who is the head of the Australian Government? at what level? do you mean the Queen? or the PM? we mean the PM
14. What are the three levels of government in Australia? council, state, federal
15. In what year did the European settlement of Australia start? 1878? 1788. i knew that
16. Serving on a jury if required is a responsibility of Australian citizenship: true or false? true
17. In Australia, everyone is free to practice the religion of their choice, or practice no religion: true of false? true
18. To be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament you must be an Australian citizen: true or false? um. true, i guess
19. As an Australian citizen, I have the right to register my baby born overseas as an Australian citizen: true or false? how should i know? seen me giving birth overseas lately? true, apparently
20. Australian citizens aged 18 years or over are required to enrol on the electoral register: true or false? true

Comments

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

I got 15 right too. The ones I stuffed up were:

3. Had no clue. Was too busy eating twisties and passing notes with friends during year 10 social studies I think :$

5. I picked banksia, whoops. On reflection, I remember that's the floral emblem of my university.

11. I thought that was a really ambiguous question - didn't know whether it meant who would actually *be* the govt, or who would swear them in :S My answer to the former would be "the ones who won the election" :P

18. I guessed it might be true, but I didn't know

19. Interesting, I didn't know that. Must see about getting Wee Beastie made an Aus citizen when he's born)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

what *I* want to know is what any of this has to do with the Australian Values the PM is touting.

I would vociferously oppose values-based screening, of course, but dammit, if you're going to do a thing, do it properly!

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. Is one of the values: "Must know obscure bits of Australian government history that actual average Australians probably don't know off the top of their heads but would go and look up in a book if they ever needed to know them"?

And where are these values to be found anyway? I couldn't find the draft document anywhere.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

no, neither could I