VIP Class Notes (Phil)

Foreign partners who wants to apply a permanent residential visa need to pass an English test, which stoked controversy in Australia. There are two voices about the issue. Australian government argues that proficiency in English could help applicants have a better life in Australia. However, some politicians said that it had a discriminated and racial trend to set up this standard. Moreover, it will add burden to the people who have already lost their jobs. From my perspective, it is unreasonable to require all foreign partners to pass the English test. The authorities should formulate some limitation and indicate which kind of foreign couples need to be proficient in English.
Admittedly, being proficient in speaking English could help non-native speakers make a better life in Australia. As all we see, many kinds of ordinary jobs get involved with native speakers such as teacher, doctor, lawyers and businessman. Some specific jobs with high income even require job seekers who are skilled in English. Taking the professors in university for example, they get supportive funds for university and have a good salary. They give lecture to students from all over the world and have to publish academic journals to make some progress in their fields. All the things need to get involved with English. Although there are some arduous jobs which don’t have a high demand in English like cooks and laundrymen or something, they are not the ideal job for anyone coming from the outside who wants a decent life in Australia. From this aspect, the requirement is reasonable and sensible.
Nevertheless, there are some problems with it. For example, it is very hard for old couples to learn a new language from scratch. The old have worse memory than the young do, so it is tougher for them to remember words and expression. Their languages pattern has been fixed. But they could have relied their children who have made a good living in Australia. Therefore, the policy should add some age limitation and some additional background investigation in it. And for the rich couples who could have a decent life in Australia, they do not have to take the test. Obviously, some people who has some special construction for the country should be in the list with exemption of the test. For example, there are a series forestry conflagration attacking the eastern part of Australia, some firefighters risk their lives to put out the fires and help the residence overcome the toughest time. From this point of view, these people with special feats could be granted permanent residents if they are not.
In a word, the authorities should elaborate the policy in order to make their country better. Therefore, some special occasions should be taken into account.

功课 / Homework