‘Be Aussie in spirit’ to settle Down Under Saudi caps mall jobs

Melbourne, April 20: Australia on Thursday announced tougher citizenship laws for new applicants, including higher English language skills and longer residency requirement, days after the government scrapped a popular visa programme used mostly by Indians.

Under the new reforms unveiled by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the applicants must be permanent residents for at least four years — three years longer than at present — and must be committed to embrace “Australian values”.

The changes would abolish the current system that allows unlimited attempts to pass the citizenship test, imposing a two-year denial if an applicant failed three attempts and an automatic fail for those who tried to cheat the test.

Prospective citizens will have to pass a standalone English test that will focus heavily on respect for women and children, with possible questions about child marriage, female genital mutilation and domestic violence. Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s labour minister issued an order on Thursday to restrict employment in shopping malls to Saudi nationals, who currently make up only one in five staff in the retail sector. A statement from the minister for labour and social development, posted on Twitter, defined malls as “closed commercial centres”, but did not elaborate on the number of jobs affected or a timeline for implementation.

— Reuters

The test will have questions assessing an applicant’s understanding and commitment to shared Australian values and responsibilities, Mr Turnbull said.

Apart from this, an automatic fail for applicants who cheat during the citizenship test has been introduced.

Mr Turnbull stressed that Australian citizenship was a “privilege” that should be “cherished”.