Home > Life

The internet is savaging the rhetoric of 'Australian values,' whatever those are

Anybody seen some values??

Johnny Lieu

on April 19, 2017

The internet is savaging the rhetoric of 'Australian values,' whatever those are

Maybe these guys can help? Credit: filip Singer/Epa/REX/Shutterstock

Ask someone Down Under what "Australian values" are, and you're likely to get a bit of umming and ahhing.

Being a land full of people from around the world and a complex and rich Indigenous history, it's not a question that has a clear answer. Even the country's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull couldn't pinpoint what exactly "Australian values" are on Wednesday, saying they're something for "public consultation."

But that hasn't stopped him from quizzing would-be migrants on them. And it certainly hasn't stopped Twitter from exposing the ridiculouslness of the concept.

Mashable Trend Report

Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means.

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

The Australian government is introducing a tougher new citizenship test that will focus on the elusive "Australian values" in questions -- values that no one can really list but far right nationalists love vaguely alluding to.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The new citizenship test also includes a more difficult English language component, and if migrants fail the test three times then they'll need to wait three years before being allowed to sit it again.

The news has left the internet scratching their heads on these so-called "Australian values," but being eternally honest and p*ss-taking, the good people of Twitter have some ideas. And like Australia itself, they're not always pretty.