Australian Citizanshit test ... 11 October, Melbourne

Australian Citizanshit test ...Kevin Andrews, the Australian Immigration Minister was speaking this morning at a conference in Melbourne's Hotel Sofitel, which seemed a good occasion for public spirited citizens to lend a hand with the drive to enrol new citizens ... They came with a specially prepared test - given in full below - and those who passed were rewarded with a genuine vegemite sandwich, nicely warmed in the Spring sunshine. There was also plenty of zinc cream on hand in case a change of colour was needed. (Watch video at engagemedia.org)

As well as the test, passers-by were also handed copies of a recent rebuttal of Kevin Andrews claims issued by the African Think Tank.

The test itself was not too hard - as one person remarked 'you don't need to be right, you only need to be white'. Even so, at least one person failed, admitting she '[didn't] actually like vegemite'.

The event was organised at very short notice by Melbourne-based activist group ACDC - or Alliance for Civil Disobedience Co-ordination - and attracted plenty of attention. The Minister himself apparently got in through a side entrance, so it remains uncertain how he would have performed in the test.

The test:

THE AUTHENTIC AUSTRAYAN CITIZENSHIP EXAMINATION

The Australian citizenship test is:

• A) played on boxing day
• B) a cynical attempt by the Australian government to show they can filter out international terrorists and not workers with low level English
• C) free with every pot and parma
• D) a good idea

Australia's first Prime Minister Edmund Barton famously said:

• A) "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman"
• B) *Why must they insist on calling me Toby Tosspot!*
• C) *I just don*t know about letting Queensland join*
• D) *You know what I think Australia needs? Big things. Heaps and heaps of big things * I mean I'm talking giant prawns and sheep and bananas and rocking horses* ah ha gentlemen*

The past two hundred years of Australia*s history are:

• A) a specialised narrative that if told right gets you on the ABC board
• B) an unfinished war
• C) super chillaxed, like one big bar-b-que
• D) not something we really need to think about

Immigration minister Kevin Andrews comments about cutting African refugee numbers was:

• A) A sensitive well measured response to the death of a young man
• B) Based on the UN refugee agency advice
• C) An unusual example of the Liberals using race politics in the lead up to the election
• D) Strange because we don*t let Africans into Oztralia* do we?

Apartheid was first introduced in:

• A) Australia with the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld)
• B) South Africa in 1913 with the Land Act
• C) 2005 Cronulla
• D) 2007 Northern Territory

The 72 Tamil and 7 Burmese Refugees currently incarcerated on Nauru show that:

• A) We have come a long way since Edmund Barton
• B) We are a compassionate and flexible county,
• C) It helps to be a white Zimbabwean farmer if you*re seeking asylum in Australia
• D) Anybody want some zinc cream?

An Alliance for Civil Disobedience Coordination (AC/DC) initiative:
call 0421 979 694 or 0434 088 766 for more information