Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to second the motion. I rise in support of the private member's motion on the Adult Migrant English Program, which has been brought for debate here in the Chamber by the member for Berowra. Australia is indeed a very, very diverse society. It is predominantly an English-speaking multicultural country that has relied on successive waves of migration to assist in its nation-building capacity. Migrants from every corner of the world have settled here. They have brought with them their hopes and their aspirations, but they have also brought their cultural and linguistic inheritance and their faiths, making Australia one of the most diverse societies in the world.

Many new migrants come to our country with fluent English, others with functional English and many without any English language at all. Their circumstances of arrival are varied, many coming under the skilled migration program and others under the refugee and humanitarian program. The importance of speaking English for a new migrant can never be underestimated, therefore, as it impacts on their capacity not only to get a job but also to negotiate everyday activities that many of us English speakers take for granted, activities such as answering the telephone, filling in forms, using public transport, being able to communicate with doctors and the police, enrolling their children in schools and speaking with teachers, being able to communicate with shop assistants and in general understanding and communicating with the broader community.

In my own community of Calwell, which has been receiving waves of migration since the Second World War—since the abolition of the white Australia policy and, more recently, under the humanitarian refugee program—English language teaching and training through the AMEP program is an important service, and never more so now given the large number of refugees we are receiving from Syria. All new migrants to a country want to hit the ground running from the moment they get here, and being able to communicate is central to being able to do that.

Knowledge of the English language was recognised as a critical enabler as far back as 1946, but it was in 1948 that the AMEP was established to assist the integration of the mass migration programs of the Curtin and Chifley governments. As the forerunners to multicultural Australia, these nation-building leaders were defined by the vision of Australia's first immigration minister Arthur Calwell. Calwell and his contemporaries understood that the new Australians needed to learn English in order to assist their integration. English language classes, therefore, were made mandatory for new migrants. The program was a six-week English language program delivered in the migrant reception centres of Bonegilla, at first, after which people were placed into jobs. Calwell's new Australians, by and large, have been a success story in our nation-building capacity and the AMEP program has been an important factor in that success.

Today's AMEP program not only continues to be relevant but has an even more critical role to play in helping new migrants' participation with an even greater focus on preparation for employment, because the nature of contemporary employment and opportunities for migrants in Australia has changed immensely. With the decline of manufacturing in this country, which once provided employment opportunities for many migrants in low-skilled jobs and where English in the workplace did not determine whether they got the job or not, today's workforce has become more technologically advanced, automated and innovative in a way that requires a highly skilled workforce, with English being absolutely necessary, even with the process of applying for a job online and having a digital CV.

The AMEP program is central to our world-class settlement service program. We are, in fact, considered world leaders in integrating migrants. Providing access and equity to new migrants is part of an overall democratic society, such as the one in which we live, and learning the English language is an overarching measure for social cohesion of migrants.

Currently, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration is conducting an inquiry into migrant settlement outcomes. One of our terms of reference specifically deals with 'the importance of English language ability on a migrant's, or prospective migrant's, settlement outcome.' As the deputy chair of the committee, I am very excited about this inquiry because it gives the parliament an opportunity to further review our settlement programs and services, especially the AMEP, to see if there are, indeed, any issues and, if so, to make recommendations to address them.

Currently, the AMEP provides 510 hours of English language, with an additional 490 hours added to the program as from 1 July 2017 for those who have shown good progress and attendance records. This stipulation, however, could serve to disadvantage those who cannot, for legitimate reasons, attend classes. Some of the evidence that was submitted to the committee attests to that. Indeed, our recent Melbourne public hearing was conducted at the Good Samaritan primary school in Roxburgh Park, in my electorate. Ms Ban Marco the new— (Time expired)

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