The Australian government has yet again proposed to tighten up its language requirements for immigrants: a conversational English requirement not only for those applying for citizenship, but also for those applying for permanent residency.

The requirement is actually a watering-down of a previously proposed university-level requirement; but its application to all new residents (including refugees) worries some who believe the requirement is too tough and discriminatory.

To discuss the ramifications of the language test and what multiculturalism looks like in Australia, The Daily‘s Nathaniel Keesing was joined by Dr Ingrid Piller, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University.

You can find Dr Piller’s writing on the subject here for The Conversation.