You did what?

There is such a thing as too much efficiency, I have to say.

Dear husband has been taking care of all the paperwork for the last year or so. He does a great job, and it's so nice to not have to worry about the details. I have a general understanding about the finances and such, but he takes care of all the day to day stuff.

So, when he told me that he was going to put together the forms for my citizenship application I thought, oh goodie, something else that I don't have to worry about. These days you can apply online, and we did so.

Yesterday I got an email from the immigration department telling me to report for a citizenship exam on September 22, less than a month away. Did I say that there is an exam? Yep.

Whoops, ok, download the 50 page pdf that is supposed to tell you all about how to pass the test. Here are some sample exam questions. How well would you do?

1. What do we remember on ANZAC Day?
   a. The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey
   b. The arrival of the first free settlers from Great Britain
   c. The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove
   
   
2. What are the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag?
   a. Black, red and yellow
   b. Green, white and black
   c. Blue, white and green
   
   
3. Which of these statements about Australia's system of government is correct:
   a. The Queen of Australia chooses people to form the Australian Parliament
   b. The government is elected by the people
   c. The Prime Minister chooses our Members of Parliament
   
   
4. What is the role of the Governor-General?
   a. The appointment of state premiers
   b. The signing of Bills passed by the Australian Parliament
   c. The appointment of the Head of State
   
   
5. What is the name given to the party or coalition of parties with the second largest number of members in the House of Representatives?
   a. The Government
   b. The Opposition
   c. The Senate

So, how did you do? The correct answers are 1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5b.

The Parliamentary system is really different to American politics. You can have any amount of political parties, and they can join together to form coalitions. If the Prime Minister isn't popular with his party, they can fire him, and put in someone else (this happened last year). Citizens vote for their favourite party, not their favourite politician.

I had to guess at the one about the Governor-General. The Governor-General is the Queen of England's representative in Australia and sort of keeps an eye on things.  In 1975 the sitting Governor-General actually sacked or fired Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Anyway, lots of stuff to know!

(by the way, Australians are completely dumbfounded by the electoral college)