When I attended my Australian citizenship ceremony at the old plantation house on Arawa Plantation on Bougainville Island in the then Territory of Papua & New Guinea, the only test I was required to pass before Reserve Magistrate David Bruce Moorhouse was to demonstrate my ability to crack a coldie of XXXX (no spelling test either!)
That was in December 1971. Since then various governments have come up with all sorts of new citizenship tests which, short of throwing boomerangs or holding your breath during smoking ceremonies to avoid asphyxiation, included questions such as ‘What is the meaning of ANZAC Day?’ and ‘What is on the Commonwealth Coat of Arms?' How tedious!
In a major streamlining of procedures, Anthony Albanese announced that applicants will now only need to show evidence that they can fend off a knife attack with a bollard in order to be granted Australian citizenship.
