A parliamentary committee dominated by senior Coalition senators is preparing to recommend the Turnbull government water down its proposed English language requirements for people seeking Australian citizenship.
Guardian Australia also understands the report could recommend the government include some grandfathering arrangements in its proposed citizenship overhaul, to protect people who were in the process of gaining citizenship before the changes were unveiled in April.
The report on the government’s controversial citizenship overhaul follows an inquiry by the Senate standing committee on legal and constitutional affairs, and is due to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday.
Peter Dutton, the immigration minister, unveiled the proposed citizenship changes on 20 April, significantly raising the hurdles on gaining citizenship, badging the proposal a national security measure.
He said he wanted to increase the waiting time for permanent residents before they could apply for citizenship (from one year to four years), and force new applicants to complete a tougher English language test (and achieve a pass mark of 75%) equivalent to level 6 of the international English language testing system (IELTS).
Dutton said the changes, if parliament passed the bill, would apply from the announcement date.
But the proposals have raised serious concerns. The racial discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, warned they could deter people from applying for Australian citizenship.
In the committee’s final public hearing last week, immigration officials admitted that migrants who had completed the government-funded adult migrant English program (Amep) would still fall short of the level of proficiency required under the new legislation.
The chairman of the Senate committee, the Queensland Liberal Ian Macdonald, also raised concerns about retrospective elements of the proposed changes, asking immigration officials if some of the 50,000 people who had applied for citizenship since 20 April would be unfairly caught out by the bill.
“A skilled migrant doing all the right things [is] about to apply for citizenship and then the 20th April comes along and throws the best-laid plans … asunder?” Macdonald asked.
As a consequence of concerns raised during the inquiry by various interest groups, the committee appears likely to recommend the Turnbull government should show some leniency on the English language test, by asking migrants to achieve a more basic level of English than the proposed IELTS level 6.
It is also preparing to recommend the government should include some grandfathering arrangements to protect people already in the process of gaining citizenship.
The committees members also include Liberal senators Jane Hume and David Fawcett, Labor senators Louise Pratt and Murray Watt, and Greens senator Nick McKim.
