NXT Senator Stirling Griff has confirmed the only way his party would support the government's citizenship changes is if the package was split into different parts.
“As a complete package there’s absolutely no way that we could accept it,” Senator Griff told SBS World News.
He said the legislation appeared to be addressing problems that do not exist.
“We’re a multicultural country built off the back of migration and there really is no reason for introducing such an incredible raft of changes that will effectively cut the migration numbers we have now in half,” he said.
The Senator, one of three crucial crossbenchers, also slammed the changes in a late-night speech in the senate on Monday night.
“It instils fear and it foments hate.
“It targets families and children as if in an attempt to wear them down to ultimate defeat.”
With Labor and the Greens also opposed to the changes, the Turnbull government would not have the numbers it needs to pass the bill through the upper house.
The Nick Xenophon Team’s opposition is based around the government’s plan to implement a new English language test for all citizenship applicants, except those from the UK, US, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.
Migrants would need to pass a standalone English test at IELTS Band 6 – a higher level than is currently required.
Critics have said the requirement is too strict and would lock out less-educated migrants especially those who came to Australia as refugees.
“The bill targets… vulnerable people. It ignores everything we know about the protections these people ought to have and says to them, 'You aren't good enough, literate enough, smart enough, hardworking enough’ – or maybe, even by inference — 'white enough to be an Australian’,” Senator Griff said.
He said his own grandparents would have failed the test after fleeing Russia in 1900 and arriving in Australia with “limited” English.
NXT is also concerned the bill would give the Immigration Minister the power to determine what is included in a new values test, which would check where migrants stand on issues such as domestic violence and child marriage.
"Our concern with that is not in effect having a values test but the minister deciding what those values are.
“We believe that’s an area which the parliament should determine what Australian values are and not the minister because the minister’s values would be very much different to my values and your values," he told SBS News.
Labor has welcomed NXT’s decision to oppose the changes as they stand.
“This legislation was never about national security, it was never about integration and the government should announce it will not be proceeding with it.
“Citizenship shouldn’t be about politics. Citizenship is about who we are as a nation and these proposed changes are a direct attack on Australia as a modern multicultural country,” Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia, Tony Burke, said.
Senate committee may recommend easier test
A cross-party Senate committee is due to report to Parliament after a series of public hearings investigating the predicted impact of the reforms.
They are expected to recommend the English test be revised to make it easier, the Guardian Australia reports.
The government gives eligible migrants and refugees 510 hours of free English lessons through the Adult Migrant English Program, but critics have said the lessons would not be sufficient to meet the new requirements.
The Immigration department told the Senate inquiry the adult lessons would need to be improved.
Increased English requirements have been a major sticking point for ethnic community groups ever since the changes were announced in April.
The Turnbull government says it will continue pursuing its plans, which are aimed at improving integration and employment outcomes for migrants as well as stopping criminals and terrorist sympathisers from being granted citizenship.
As well as the new English test, the reforms include a four-year wait instead of one before permanent residents can apply for citizenship.
There would also be a new values test, to check where migrants stand on child marriage and domestic violence.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton has said the changes would help people integrate with broader society.
“Australian citizenship should be highly valued, and the government’s changes will ensure that it is a privilege obtained by only those who’ve demonstrated the most sincere commitment to Australia, our values and respect for our laws, as it should be," Mr Dutton said last month.
Applicants under 16 and over 60 would be exempt from the new test, as well as people with certain disabilities.
Children born in Australia to parents without valid visas would not be automatically eligible for citizenship either.
Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney’s Institute for Culture and Society, Shanthi Robertson, told SBS World News the changes were unnecessary.
“It’s just yet another hurdle, yet another obstacle, another hoop they have to jump through on the increasingly long journey to citizenship,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told SBS World News the government is discussing the bill with the crossbenchers as is normally the case.
