Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is one strong point of difference I have with the previous speaker, and that is that I don't believe in multiculturalism. I believe that there overwhelmingly is an Australian culture and that the Australian culture itself provides guardrails that temper what, in some instances, might be alternative views that work at angles to what is acceptable in Australia. I think that, if you believe all cultures have an equivalence, then, of course, you condone a whole range of things that I and many would find completely and utterly noxious.

Being part of the Australian community means that you have to comply with the mores and edicts of what we see as acceptable behaviour. So I come at this from a slightly different position. Part of complying with the Australian culture is the necessity to understand English. It is essential. There are no problems with being bilingual. There are no problems with your faith, your creed or your colour. They're absolutely and utterly part and parcel of the egalitarian nature of Australia. But, to maintain that egalitarian nature of Australia and to give people the greatest opportunities, it is essential that they are able to speak English.

So many people isolate themselves from all the protections that are warranted in the Australian system because of their inability to speak English. I won't refer to who they are, but there are people who have worked especially on trying to deal with sex slaves in Sydney, and one of the greatest problems they had was that they couldn't speak English and so they couldn't convey the issues that were before them.

So, although we must have a mechanism to assist people who struggle with English, the absolute emphasis must be on speaking English. You must get to a point where you can speak English. If I'm to go to France, I must get to a point where I can speak French. If I'm to go to Thailand, I must get to a point where I can speak Thai. And if you come to Australia, you must get to a point where you can speak English.

Sometimes people have romantic views about people in remote Indigenous communities where it's essential that they keep their language, but they think there's something good if they can't speak English. That is terrible, because you've completely ostracised them from the opportunities of Australia. Without the capacity to speak English, there are such limitations.

Also, in Australia, we have to ask the question on this: regardless of the attributes of a person, they must have the capacity to come to Australia and to become part of it—to be an effective, taxpaying member of this nation. We have two things that we must rely on, as we get ourselves into more debt and as we have more problems in regard to supply constraints on things such as housing: a person who becomes part of the Australian community cannot be in the crime pages and cannot be on social security. We must focus on that. Otherwise, rather than an asset, they become a burden. To become an effective part of the Australian community, it's essential that they have the capacity to communicate with the Australian community. Therefore, English becomes a part of that.

Madam Deputy Speaker Haines, I also want to bring to your attention something that has been brought to mine, and those are the requirements under the Public Service Regulations. I want to go to the Public Service Act 1999 in the Federal Register of Legislation. There is nothing in this that says that you have to speak English. You have to be polite, but you don't have to speak English. This means that, in certain areas where people, taxpayers, have to rely on or be serviced by people who represent the government, there is actually no requirement in the act for them to speak English. Now, I thought that that was bunkum when it was brought to my attention, but I've now found out that it's not. I think that this issue that was brought to my attention is a valid issue that needs to be resolved. It has also been brought to my attention that the wording of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 in the Federal Registration of Legislation leaves out the requirement to speak English. So imagine if you're in a position where you are in need of a service and the person who you are dealing with—even though they are paid by the taxpayer—cannot communicate with you. There's something wrong about that.

So what do we have to do if we want to eliminate this? It goes both ways, in the provision of service. We need, in Australia, doctors. We need, in Australia, builders. We need, in Australia, teachers. But we need, in Australia, people who have the capacity to come here and immediately segue into the requirements of the services we wish them to be part of.

There is definitely a strong correlation between a key person's inability to speak English and sections who have been exploited, because they can't avail themselves of the protections that are required. Yes, for that you need a translation service, and that's essential, and I'm not saying that, for one section, we don't. But I'm saying that the impetus has always got to be that, in Australia, there has to be a drive for a common language that everybody has. It also has to be part of delivering a unity of purpose in Australia around what we are doing. If we go to an authentic multiculturalism, that, in its authenticity, will also state that you don't have to speak English, because culturally in some areas it's not appropriate. If you want to hold fast to a purist form of your culture, then it doesn't require you to speak English. What this leads to is enclaves. It also leads to Balkanisation. It leads to misunderstanding. It can lead to friction. Friction can lead to hate, and hate leads to hurt.

In Australia, more and more we have to have these discussions, because we can go on this train of saying marvellous things—of saying things that we believe will warrant accolades in this building. But I'll tell you about one commonality between everybody in this building, in this chamber and in the red one across the road, downstairs, is that they all speak English. Every attendant speaks English. Our communication to Australia is in English, and we know that it would be pointless and irrelevant if you couldn't. So if that's what we think is essential for us to do our job, why don't we believe that's essential for anybody else? I think there's a real sense of conceit where we say we'll basically look after you forevermore speaking another language because that's nice. No; that's actually hurting them. What you've got to do is say, yes, you have an issue, and we've got to help you. But the goal is not for you to stay in the language of where you came from. It's absolutely essential that you get to the language of the country that you now live in.

A fascinating thing and one of the great gifts of so many people is people who are multilingual and bilingual. I can say not so much now, because people pass on. At my Christmas dinner in the past, when the family got together, 10 languages were spoken around the table when everybody was there. And that is marvellous. But when you have other relatives turning up from other parts of South-East Asia, being part of the community and the family just doesn't work if you can't communicate with them.

I saw this bill, and it was something that had been brought to my attention by a constituent that said, 'When you get the opportunity, you must bring to the Australian public's attention that in sections of the public service—and I've quoted to you to the act—there is no requirement to speak English.' They said, 'I have been in that position where I've had a requirement for the person who's serving the government to speak the language of the nation, and they couldn't.' And when the person followed this through, they said, 'Surely there must be a requirement for them to speak English.' And they said: 'No, there's not. They just have to be polite. They have to be courteous.' This person said: 'How would I know? I can't understand what they're saying.' That this is something that needs to be brought. When I saw this piece of legislation come up, I couldn't help it, but I thought, well, now I'm going to have to ventilate that issue and make sure that, in further requirements in both state and federal acts, if you serve the government and you're paid for by the taxpayer, it is absolutely explicit that you must be able to speak in a form of English that is understandable and that gives you the capacity to do your job and serve others.

I don't want to delay the chamber, but I'll close where I started. Australia has to more and more realise that multiculturalism is a great idea, but an Australian culture is essential. Australian culture by its very nature does not ask what religion you are, what creed you are or what colour you are. But it asks that you comply within guardrails of how people act in this nation, and the things that are outside the guardrail you cannot make excuses for on the premise of your religion, your previous culture or filial lines. If you're outside the guardrails, you're outside the guardrails. We don't have to go into the graphic side of it, but I think we can all relate to sections of alternative cultures throughout Australia where things are completely and utterly applicable, completely and utterly acceptable and completely and utterly anathema to what this nation represents.

I have to comply with certain things I might disagree with, but I must comply. I must be tempered. I must accept what might be not my views, but it is part of that egalitarian nature of Australia that I leave other people alone to live their lives. I live mine. There's also the expectation that people who come here have to comply with that as well. You cannot say, 'Well, what I want in Australia is a culture that reflects where I came from.' No. If you come to Australia, you must have a culture that reflects where you are not where you came from. It is swayed by different views. It is accepted. It is moved by different ingredients, but it cannot be holistically changed into something that's entirely different.

I put that before the chamber. It is an item, a sort of caveat on this, that we have to take on board, because the last thing we want in Australia is the Balkanisation, the friction and the heat that come where people, by basically the language aspect of what they want, end up in an enclave. It remains in an enclave. It does not have the capacity to engage in a wider form with the Australian culture. Therefore those people within that enclave are sort of diminished in the rights that they have. For the Australian view in public, the nation is diminished in the reward that they can give back to us.

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