The Australian values questions, explained

What the five values questions test

Part 4 is short enough to list. Under the heading Our values, the booklet sets out: commitment to the Rule of Law; parliamentary democracy; freedom of speech; freedom of association; freedom of religion; equality of all people under the law; equality of opportunity and a 'fair go'; and mutual respect and tolerance for others. A second section, Our community, covers making a contribution, compassion for those in need, English as the national language, helping to keep our society safe, and loyalty to Australia.

Each heading is a page or less, and each page contains sentences that turn into questions: that religious laws have no legal status in Australia, that violence of any kind including verbal abuse is illegal, that a person should get a job based on their skills and experience rather than their gender, wealth or ethnicity, that voting is compulsory, and that the law should be followed even if no one is watching.

Why they are marked separately

The Department lists four things a pass shows: a basic knowledge of English, an understanding of what it means to become an Australian citizen, an adequate knowledge of Australia and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, and an understanding and commitment to Australian values based on freedom, respect and equality. The last one is what the separate condition enforces. Before November 2020 a strong score on facts could carry a weak grasp of the values; after it, it cannot.

The change had a visible effect. Figures reported by the ABC in October 2024 put the first-attempt pass rate at about 94% before the values questions and about 84% in 2023–24, and the drop is generally attributed to the 5-out-of-5 condition rather than to harder facts.

How values questions are phrased

Values questions rarely ask for a date or a number. They describe a situation or a principle and ask what Australian values say about it, and the wrong options are usually the principle with a limit attached: values apply only to citizens, only to officials, only at ceremonies, only when convenient. The worked example in the question-count guide is typical: three options make values optional or partial, one describes them as the booklet does.

Some wording is harder than the ideas behind it. The ABC's reporting quoted applicants with limited formal education who found the phrasing complex, and the Department's response was that the test is regularly reviewed to keep the language clear and at the legal standard of basic English. In practice, reading Part 4 twice and doing a full set of values questions is enough for most people to recognise the shape of a wrong option on sight.

How to study Part 4

Read it first, before the history and the government parts, and read it again the day before the test. It is the shortest part of the booklet and the only one where a single mistake fails you. Then drill it until values questions feel repetitive: the Australian Citizenship app gives Part 4 ten lessons and 97 practice questions, and marks every mock the Department's way, so a mock with one values question wrong shows as a fail however good the rest was.

Values questions overlap with Part 2

Part 2 of the booklet, on Australia's democratic beliefs, rights and liberties, covers much of the same ground from the other side: parliamentary democracy, the Rule of Law, living peacefully, freedom of speech, association and religion, gender equality and the fair go all appear there too. A question on those topics may be counted as a values question or not depending on where the Department draws it from, so treat the two parts as one subject and expect it to supply a quarter or more of the test.