Australian Citizenship Tests Start Today

AUSTRALIA'S new citizenship testing regime starts today, with the Federal Government yet to set almost half of the questions it wants to ask prospective citizens.

Under the new system, would-be citizens will be asked to answer 20 multiple choice questions about Australia's history and way of life.

The questions were meant to be randomly drawn from a pool of 200 but candidates doing the test today will answer questions drawn from a pool of just 102 questions.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the full pool of questions – likely to include questions on notable Australians, flags, days of celebration and Australian values – was not likely to be finalised until the end of November.

Australian Democrats leader Lyn Allison has mocked the "stupid" test in a YouTube video where she said it was ludicrous to deny someone citizenship because they did not know golden wattle is the nation's floral emblem.