(07-01-2022, 11:05 AM)Lilith7 Wrote: Apparently the reason kids are no longer taught to swim at school is that schools can't afford pools & their upkeep. Perhaps we need to look at schools being able to have time for kids to go to a public pool & be taught to swim & perhaps the govt could pay for that.

The cost would surely be a hell of a lot less than death by drowning.

(09-01-2022, 02:09 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: We were formally taught, and encouraged to do medals in Life Saving. But that was back when education included things like cooking, sex education, and self discipline. As well as Latin, social studies, geography, biology, chemistry, Maths, French, German, and other boring stuff...

(27-12-2021, 10:27 AM)Lilith7 Wrote: They uproot people from what's often the only life they've ever known, & if they try to appeal then they can be stuck in 'detention camps' for months which aren't always near their families.

(10-01-2022, 12:36 PM)sarahk Wrote:

(27-12-2021, 10:27 AM)Lilith7 Wrote: They uproot people from what's often the only life they've ever known, & if they try to appeal then they can be stuck in 'detention camps' for months which aren't always near their families.

I don't like it either but most of these 501s have chosen not to get dual citizenship. If Australia really was their "home" they'd have made sure they have the paperwork in order.

When you turn up in a country you have to live by their rules and behave in a way that protects your right to be there. It may mean that you have fewer rights than citizens but you keep your head down until it's official. There will be millions of immigrants in Australia doing just that. If a small number can't toe the line then that's a choice they've made. Every parent should have been watching their kids like hawks and getting the paperwork done as soon as the kid was eligible.

(10-01-2022, 01:58 PM)Lilith7 Wrote: Some didn't just decide to move to Oz though; their parents took them there when they were just little kids.  And Australia has made it rather more difficult for Kiwis to get citizenship since about 2017, having gone back on what they'd told John Key they'd be doing; some may have to wait for up to 10 years .

(10-01-2022, 02:33 PM)sarahk Wrote:

(10-01-2022, 01:58 PM)Lilith7 Wrote: Some didn't just decide to move to Oz though; their parents took them there when they were just little kids.  And Australia has made it rather more difficult for Kiwis to get citizenship since about 2017, having gone back on what they'd told John Key they'd be doing; some may have to wait for up to 10 years .

Without a doubt, it has become harder to get citizenship but those kids should grow up knowing that they need it and what's expected. Leave the fine print for later but don't let them be surprised by it later on. I'd be prepared to bet $$$ that teens from other countries know exactly what the steps to citizenship are.

There was a recent article in the Herald about one of these guys. First brush with the law at 16. FFS! Then he was surprised that later on the country decided he wasn't a good fit. Nothing in the article about applications for citizenship, he seemed to be happy not to commit fully to the country his parents adopted.