Amazulu

Immigration article in today's paper:

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ontentID=37612

renth

Interesting, "white Australia policy" springs to mind.

Looks like it's based on this...

"New rules mean an extra five points will be awarded for passing a standard English language test under Australia's points-based immigration system."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6949380.stm

Why award Brits an extra 5 points for speaking their native language?

Would Geordies and Glaswegians get these extra 5 English language points seeing as most of them are unintelligible to your average Aussie?

JAJ

It benefits those from certain other countries just as much - eg Singapore.
And not all British citizens are white.

If they can't pass all four bands of the IELTS test at 7.0 they won't get the points. And IELTS covers more than just speaking.

renth

Fair Dinkum? So Brits actually have to sit the test do they?

Do you think many of them might fail?

JAJ

To get full points for English under the new rules - yes.

No-one with a professional background ought to fall but others might. Standards of literacy and written English are not so high among the general population.

renth

Wow, I know what you are saying, that will be a hot news item, if native Brits start failing the English test.

northernbird

You only have to look at the standard of english on this forum to realise there are plenty who would fail cos they can't talk or write proper!

keel

Steady on there Renth. I'm only unintelligible to Ozzies when I drunk but by then I'm unintelligible to Geordies as well.

Keel

Amazulu

Sure, it benefits all english speaking immigrants but because of the historical links between the UK and Australia and the desire of Poms to emigrate here, the UK will be the biggest beneficary.

Not all UK citizens are white but most that emigrate are. You just have to look at the northern suburbs of Perth or Bayside in Qld to see that. How many black or Asian Britons are there here? Very few.

Maybe there is a racial motive behind this. It wouldn't surprise me.

sme

I read an article from the UK press saying the extra 5 points for the IELTS test are to redress the balance for professionals after they reach the age of 30 and lose points for being really old !

JAJ

What on earth could be "racial" about Australia wanting skilled migrants to have top-class skills in the national language of Australia?

Of course it's going to benefit citizens of countries that speak the same language, but so what?

If you look at Australia's humanitarian intake, which is based on completely different considerations, very few are either white or English speaking.

adiestubbs

Thats how I read it. People with a high level of skill but were in their mid - late 30's were just falling short of the 120 mark. I also read that about 23000 UK citizens moved to Australia last year, about 25% of the total of immigrants. 23000 isnt a huge figure really, and UK takes more immigrants per year than 100,000. Apparently, this is due to increase, partly because of the large amount of Aussies leaving each year.

sme

Just think I was one of those figures

adiestubbs

I also heard there are more Brits in Perth than in Milton Keynes. Is that right? And do you hear Brit accents everywhere you go in Perth?

renth

Where I live, yes, virtually all British with a smattering of South African.