FOREIGN religious workers may be forced into language and orientation classes in return for a long-term visas or residency, a report before the Federal Government recommends.
The recommendation contained in the Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia report was released by Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Peter McGuaren at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne today.
Australia was becoming more secular, but also had a much wider range of religions, with 69 per cent of Australians regarding themselves as Christians, the report found.
A decline in religious identification in recent years had plateaued, while revivalist Christian and New Age religions had grown more popular.
Even in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack and the Bali bombings, Australian religious groups generally existed in a peaceful co-existence.
The report recommended:
* issuing six-month provisional visas to new foreign personnel and withholding long-term visas or permanent residency until they achieved vocational proficiency in English classes and attended in-depth orientation through a designated TAFE college;
* the establishment of an inter-faith advisory body to work with the federal government and the Council for Multicultural Australia on religious matters;
* a yearly national inter-faith forum and an electronic inter-faith network using the internet, or instead the establishment of local multi-faith networks;
* changes to the Council for Multicultural Australia so its membership better reflected religious diversity, with new tasks including monitoring religious websites for defamatory content about other religions, working with schools and the media and disseminating material to groups about government programs.
Report co-author Hass Dellal, the executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, said language and orientation training for religious workers would enhance harmony between groups.
"We believe this basic training will go a long way in assisting religious personnel preparing to work in Australia," Mr Dellal said.
"In fact, some faith communities have realised the need for cross-cultural and inter-faith education for all religious personnel whether trained in Australia or overseas, and we know that many communities have already initiated such programs."
The 148-page report cost $110,000 to produce.