Poor English No Excuse For COVID Cock-Up
MEDIA RELEASE
19 July 2021
The importance of immigrants needing to learn English before they are granted Australian citizenship has been underlined by the latest bungle which saw three men travel from Sydney to regional New South Wales while positive with COVID-19.
One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson said the incident, in which three removal contractors travelled through western NSW while waiting for the results of a COVID test, highlighted the need for Australian citizenship to be contingent on having a sufficient command of the English language.
“The language barrier has been used as an excuse for these removalists taking COVID-19 into western NSW,” Senator Hanson said. “It’s just not good enough. What’s the bet none of these Iraqi immigrants were students of the Adult Migrant English Program provided free by the Australian taxpayer?
“If an immigrant’s English isn’t good enough for them to follow simple instructions to isolate until their COVID test results come in, how can we expect them to be able to integrate into our society and economy so they can contribute?
“I raised this issue at the start of the Melbourne outbreak last year. It got me banned from breakfast television, but politically-correct attempts to silence me haven’t made the issue go away. It’s a very real problem but it can be fixed.
“This is why I’ve tried to strengthen the requirements for citizenship with legislation in the Senate, including the need to be more competent in English. It’s a win for everyone. Being competent in English removes a major barrier to employment and education for an immigrant to Australia, meaning less support is needed from Australian taxpayers.
“And incidents like this could be more readily avoided.”
Senator Hanson said Australia was more accurately referred to as a multi-racial nation instead of a multicultural nation.
“We can’t acknowledge multiculturalism in Australia without supporting cultural language and making exceptions in law at everyone else’s expense,” she said. “Poor English as an excuse for spreading COVID isn’t an exception we can accept.”
