HERALD SUN ARTICLES -THERE ARE VALUES WE DONT NEED

THERE ARE VALUES WE DONT NEED

HERALD SUN, 28 SEPTEMBER 2006

BABETTE FRANCIS

Prime Minister Howard, Opposition Leader Beazley and Andrew Robb, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, are all dancing to a politically correct tune in discussing what core values immigrants applying for Australian citizenship should accept. Robb has issued a 31-page discussion paper “Exploring the Merits of a Formal Citizenship Test”, which lists 16 questions for those making submissions. The questions relate to knowledge of English, Australian values and way of life.

These politicians are so anxious to avoid charges of racism or discrimination that they are attempting to dance around why there is now a need for “values” commitments when there was none in the past. They are pretending to ignore the “camel in the tent” - or to put it plainly, “the Arab in the tent”.

In the fifties, Italian and Greek grandparents working in fruit shops had little knowledge of English. Because of their hard work their sons and daughters were well educated and entered the professions in droves. English is not a pre-requisite for good citizenship, but with free English lessons, there is little excuse not to learn the language.

Australians are never going to agree on “values”. Senator Kay Patterson, for example, supports the idea of creating animal-human hybrid embryos for research. To me this is repugnant. Nor is it necessary for immigrants to grasp our ideals of “mateship” and shout a round in a pub, to like vegemite (I detest the stuff) or be able to sing two verses of “Gert by sea”, however beautiful Gert may have been.

But to stop being a nuisance to the rest of us, here are the values I want our immigrants to sign off on - and yes, these “values” are targetted at a specific religious minority because the rest of us have little problem in accepting these undertakings:

Accept that Israel has a right to exist as a nation.

Promise you will not name any of your children “Hamas” or “Hezbollah”.

Acknowledge George Bush is not the Great Satan. (Memo: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, you have to sign off on this one too if you want to migrate to Australia)

Admit that the murderous events of Sept. ll, 200l were not organised by the CIA, the Jewish lobby or George Bush (see above) but by Islamic terrorists.

Accept that Sharia law has no place in a civilized society - the rest of us do not like cutting off the hands of thieves, stoning women for adultery or requiring rape victims to provide four witnesses before they can access justice.

Accept that all adults have a right to abandon or change their religion without persecution and hysterical accusations of “apostasy”.

Admit that polygamy is unacceptable not merely because it is against Australian law but because it is discriminatory, demeaning and degrading to women. Contrary to what Keyser Trad, Chairman of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, asserts, Malaysia is not a model democracy because it allows polygamy and does not recognise conversions from Islam to Christianity.

Accept that as sport is the national religion of Australia, girls should be allowed to wear appropriate clothes for sports they participate in. I am still occasionally furious that years ago we lost a doubles badminton final in India because my Muslim partner had to wear long pantaloons which restricted her speed around the court.

Accept that adult women be allowed to choose who they wish to date or marry, and that it not to be regarded as inimical to family honour if she chooses a man of another faith or tribe. Broadly translated, this means “No honour killings”, mate.

Write a short letter - in English - to the Government of Saudi Arabia requesting that in that country Catholics be allowed to build churches and say Mass, that Protestants be allowed to carry Bibles in public (or vice versa), and that Baptists be allowed to baptize converts in whatever rivers flow through Saudi Arabia.

I am tempted to add that prospective citizens also accept the “Line of Control” between the opposing Indian and Pakistani forces in beautiful Kashmir and not send funds to Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group that is working to de-stabilize the region, but perhaps that is a bridge too far.

If prospective immigrants can give the undertakings above, the rest of us can accept them as citizens.

BABETTE FRANCIS is co-ordinator of the Endeavour Forum, a counter- feminist, anti-abortion group