Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP):

(a) has been operating since 1948;

(b) aims to promote and support English language skills for new migrants and humanitarian entrants;

(c) is the Government's largest English language program;

(d) provides English language training for new members of the Australian community; and

(e) provides essential life skills for all eligible new migrants and humanitarian entrants;

(2) acknowledges the importance of the AMEP in delivering foundation English language skills to newly arrived migrants and humanitarian entrants to prepare them for work and participation in Australian society; and

(3) notes:

(a) that last year more than 59,000 new migrants and humanitarian entrants benefited from training delivered by the AMEP; and

(b) this Government's ongoing support for the AMEP, in the interests of all Australians.

The English language is the passport to success in this country. Without it, migrants to our country are limited in their choices, limited in their opportunity and limited in their ability to communicate and successfully integrate into our country. The last of my family to come to Australia arrived here from Germany in 1936. Anyone who has travelled to another country where a language other than English is spoken might appreciate just how difficult it is to communicate and complete everyday tasks, but few of us can comprehend the immense hurdle that moving to a foreign country and having to learn a new language presents. The ability to speak English gives people greater independence and increases economic and social participation in the Australian community.

The Adult Migrant English Program—or the AMEP, as I will call it—is the Australian government's largest settlement program, providing up to 510 hours of English language tuition to eligible new migrants and humanitarian entrants to help them learn foundation English language and settlement skills. I acknowledge my friend the member for Cowan, who I know used to be a teacher in the program. The AMEP is available to all eligible visa holders 18 years of age and over who do not have full proficiency in English.

Since its establishment in 1948, the AMEP has helped more than a million new arrivals gain the linguistic skills they need to fully participate in all aspects of Australian life. But this is only one million out of the over 7½ million people who have settled here since the first federal Immigration portfolio was created in 1945. Last year alone, more than 59,000 new migrants benefited from the training delivered by the AMEP. Despite this increase in participation, the 2011 census revealed that there were more than half a million Australians who reported that they could not speak English well, or they could not speak it at all. Of those people, more than a quarter of a million had been here since before 1996, and those figures are probably underestimated. All of this shows that more needs to be done.

My electorate has migrants from China, India, Sri Lanka, Korea, Lebanon, Armenia, Greece, Italy and the Philippines. The 2011 census revealed that there were approximately 3½ thousand people who spoke little or no English in my electorate. This is an issue that disproportionately affects women, with three-fifths of those census respondents with little or no English being women. The social isolation of some Chinese and Indian migrants, particularly in my electorate—particularly older people and stay-at-home mums—is a key issue facing our community.

In 2014, the federal education department reviewed the AMEP and found that the program would benefit from improvements that focused on individual client outcomes, particularly employment and improved community participation. As a result, the government has created two streams of tuition: the pre-employment English stream and the social English stream. Both streams will include mandatory units on Australian laws, culture and values, with specific units for young people under age 24. Mandatory entry and exit assessments and regular assessments every 200 hours of tuition will provide better monitoring of client progress. Teachers will have to have a three-year Australian undergraduate degree and a postgraduate Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages qualification.

The new AMEP model will mean migrants are better supported in their English studies and will provide more choice for how and when and at what pace students can learn. The changes will also assist migrants to achieve the English language requirements under the new citizenship test. At present, only a basic knowledge of English is required for citizenship, and this is not assessed through a standalone test. The proposed citizenship test raises this standard.

The government is providing more than $1.2 billion over the forward estimates to deliver the AMEP at around 250 locations across Australia. TAFE NSW delivers the AMEP at 78 locations, including at the Hornsby campus, in my electorate of Berowra. Eighty to 85 per cent of the students enrolled at the Hornsby campus are of Mandarin Chinese background. Other countries of origin include South Korea, Russia, Thailand, Poland and Iran. As of term 1 in 2017, there were 546 students enrolled. This was an increase of about 25 per cent from the end of 2016.

Sunny Suqin Sun recently moved to Australia from China and is a student at the Hornsby TAFE. Through the AMEP, Sunny has enrolled in a beginner English bilingual class and is learning how to use public transport, ask for directions and make appointments so she can more fully participate in everyday Australian life. She says this method of English is 'a memorable and exciting thing'. She says:

The class is like a family - The teacher makes the class very enjoyable - I feel relaxed and happy.

I will be visiting the Hornsby TAFE in the near future to see this program firsthand. The Adult Migrant English Program will help reduce social isolation, create greater economic opportunities and provide a pathway to citizenship for many in our multicultural communities. I commend the AMEP.

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