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November 22, 2023 • 6 mins

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A Dutch woman was once denied Swiss citizenship because she was not respectful of their traditions. 

It got us thinking... could we pass our own citizenship test? We gave it a try just for you xx 

We love chit chatting, so whatever we can't say on air, we put here, In our catchup podcast! Every weekday we bring you a replay of our show and an extended segment just for the podcast (like this one!). 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Later Flex and Firms Flex and Firms. This is the
Flex and Firms catch up podcast. Can you imagine getting
your citizenship denied for being too annoying? Listen to this
TikTok from Kevin Newan forty six.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Did you know that Dutch woman was once denied a
Swiss citizenship for being too annoying? And this is because
in Switzerland, naturalization is not decided at a federal level
like it is in the US, but instead decided by
the town, city, or the local area, and her town
ided not to give her the gift of a passport
because of how vocal she is about her lifestyle. For example,
many people in our town see her as a vocal
beacon who opposes many Swiss traditions. For example, she's vocal

(00:37):
about opposing the Swiss tradition of putting bells around cows
for ceremonial and practical reasons. For example, back in twenty fifteen,
her application for naturalization was approved by local officials but
then rejected by a vote, and many people rejected her
application because of her criticism of the bell as well
as her disrespect to the village.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
When you hear like that, it actually kind of makes
a little bit of sense. Yes, in theory, her citizenship
wasn't denied because she was annoying. But if to be
a Swiss citizen, you must be compliant, and you must
be celebratory in Swiss values, and you must uphold Swiss culture,
and you don't do that. I can imagine while why
some people be like, why do you want to be

(01:15):
here so badly? What do you want to be? You
can just hang out here like you're doing. Why do
you want to be a citizen? It's interesting though, because
I feel like a lot of people who are natives
to the country that they are born in, or they
were considered native because they were born here, don't consider
the hoops people have to jump through to be considered citizens.
I remember when my mum became a citizen. I was

(01:36):
in primary school and I didn't understand the concept number
one because I was like, I'm from here, aren't you
from here? No? And you could imagine being a parent
having children in a society in a country and you
being the one who's like, you can't stay here, but
they can. How would that even work? I couldn't really think,
like the thing that made this make the most sense

(01:58):
to me right, is imagine the whole world for apart. Right,
all the structures, all the systems that be no longer exist,
and you and I are in charge of building a
new world from scratch. And thankfully you and I have
access to a few buildings. You know, we stole a
few suitcases and luggage with medicines. We've got a bit
of that going. And you can cook and I can lead.

(02:20):
Now we've got people. It makes sense, it makes sense.
Let's get you on the tools. So now we have
people who want to join, right, who want to have
access to what we have access to, who want to
share what we have, but they hate us, and they're
not really a big fan of your cooking, and they
don't really like what I believe in. Then you'd be like,
why do you only want to why do you want

(02:41):
to be here? Just be on the fringes. Anyway, the
contradictions are rife because it really isn't that simple. And realistically,
if someone's contributing to your economy, if they've been there
for years and years and years, they should be entitled
to the same perks. But then I was thinking, gosh,
what does it take to become an Australian citizen. Really
what would it take? And I know there's a huge

(03:02):
test you have to do, like a really really long one.
Could we do it? If they said to us, if
you do not get an A plus A one hundred
percent on this test, your citizenship is revoked. Could you
do it? Let's see, I want to find out all right,
to pass the test, you must answer the following twenty
multiple choice questions, answer all five of the Australian Values

(03:26):
questions correctly and get a mark of at least seventy
five percent overall. Give me the values. That's what I
want to see. Do you want to say? Okay, let's
start with question number one. What do we commemorate on
Antac Day A The landing of the Australian and New
Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, the arrival of the first
free settlers from Great Britain, the landing of the first

(03:47):
fleet at Sydney Cove. It's giving me away, Yeah, yeah,
thank you. What are the colors of the Australian Aboriginal
flag yellow, red, black period? What is the Commonwealth coat arms?
A kangaroo and an emi? No? The national anthem Australian's
National flower the official symbol of Australia, which identifies Commonwealth property?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah? Number three?

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Do we know that? Which identifies Commonwealth property in the
animal's property? Oh? I understand, like when a product's Australian.
What happened in Australia On the first of January nineteen
oh one, the Australian Constitution was changed by referendum. The
separate colonies were united into a federation of states called

(04:35):
the Commonwealth of Australia. The Australian New Zealand Army Corps
was formed. It's baby, Come on, Australiana. What is the
capital city of Australia? Camera crazy? If I mean still,
I think we're kind of eaten. Which of these is
an example of equality in Australia. Everyone follows the same religion,

(04:58):
men and women have equal rights. Everyone belongs to the
same political party. Be in theory? Why not people? Okay,
last one. It's not the last one of the practice test,
but I'm sure we're nailing it. And what is the

(05:19):
name of the legal document that sets out the basic
rules for the government of Australia. Bored? I'm gonna say
we passed, but I'm also going to say this is
My issue with any kind of like theory. It's all
theoretical and conceptual, and I don't think that anything any

(05:40):
of this is really going to help someone assimilate into
Australian culture, if anything's going to confuse them A lot,
a lot, a lot, a lot like too much. It's
a setup. It's a setup conspiracy. You've been listening to
The Flex and Froom's daily podcast. For more, tune Indicator
on DAB or stream it on iHeartRadio.
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