Last night I was having dinner with my Dad and some of his colleagues, and a couple were telling me they recently passed their Australian citizenship test. They wanted to test me on one of the compulsory questions that leads to an automatic fail should you get it wrong:

What are the three duties all Australian citizens must fulfill?

Now I came up with one, but couldn’t think of the other two. And remember, obeying the law and paying taxes aren’t on the list because the former everyone who is the country must do, and for the latter permanent residents (or anyone legally working in the country) must do as well.

OK the answer is after this picture of my freaky left leg, the muscles of which have degraded due to lack of use:

1. Vote
2. Serve jury duty
3. Take up a gun should the need to defend the country arise.

Call me ignorant, but I was a bit like “whaaaaa?” to that last one. It sort of triggered an image in my head of me standing on George Street with a gun in my hand, absolutely terrified, and just letting go rounds into a line of oncoming enemy soldiers.

I checked the Australian Citizenship Test website, and it actually lists this one as:

To defend Australia should the need arise (subject to the same rights and exemptions as Australian-born citizens)

While service in the Australian Defence Force is voluntary, should the need arise it is vital that all Australian citizens be committed to joining together to defend the nation and its way of life. Consistent with the pledge of loyalty that new citizens make, Australian citizenship also involves broader obligations and opportunities. In particular, new citizens are asked to embrace the values of Australia. As important as the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, these values provide the everyday guideposts for living in Australia, for participating fully in our national life and for making the most of the opportunities that Australia has to offer.

Bit of a wishy washy explanation for what is, essentially, a pretty frightening promise.

On a side note, I have to hand it to the government for allowing comments on every article of this site. Not all of the commenters are complimentary.

And just to finish off, a question from their list of 20 really hard questions:

8. Walter Lindrum
a. disappeared while trying to cross Australia from east to west in 1848
b. excelled on the billiards table
c. was the only Australian general who has come close to having heroic status
d. landed on the western side of Cape York peninsula in 1606

I’ll stick the answer in the comments section