The speech on Australian national television by Prime Minister John Howard last month, basically telling Muslims in the country who wanted to live under Sharia law that if they did not like the way Australia did things, they could “always take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, the right to leave” must have caused a chorus of “Hear, hear” across the western world.

However, I was highly amused by a conversation over the weekend with my niece, whose husband – an Anglican priest – is due to begin work as a parish priest in a city in Australia this month. After nearly four months, his visa has finally been granted and my niece told me that some of the questions in one of the multitude of application forms required for the visa verged on the totally absurd. I am paraphrasing, but basically, one of these questions, which required a tick in either the “Yes” box or the “No” box, asked: “Are you involved in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction?” If you ticked the “Yes” box, you were asked to give details. Another question asked: “Are you a member of a terrorist organisation?” with, again, a tick in the “Yes” box requiring details of which one.

Does whoever designed these forms seriously imagine, for one moment, that anyone who is seeking a visa to live and work in Australia would actually tick one of the “Yes” boxes!

Judith Falzon

Mellieha