Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak to the Translating and Interpreting Services Bill 2025. This bill is about providing a clear statutory framework for the essential services that TIS National has provided for more than 75 years. Their services have benefited so many Australians. This bill is important because it is another way that the Albanese government is delivering for Australians with limited English proficiency by ensuring they have the resources to get the help they need.

The Australian government began providing translating services in 1947 and interpreting services in the 1950s to support postwar migrants. In 1973, Australia became the first country in the world to provide a telephone interpreting service. This is a service that so many people, including those in my electorate of Tangney, continue to use today. TIS National provides some really important services for our communities, with translating and interpreting services for government agencies, for the private sector and for individuals. Telephone interpreting services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure these services are always available for triple zero emergency calls and other urgent matters. TIS National also provides remote interpreting, video and onsite interpreting, and translation services. TIS National also provides free services including free interpreting services for doctors, pharmacists and other medical professionals, as well as trade unions, real estate agencies and parliamentarians. The free translation services provide new arrivals with translations of their key personal documents into English to help support migrants' participation in employment, education and community life.

I want to speak about my electorate of Tangney, which is one of the most diverse electorates in Western Australia. I also want to touch on my own story as someone who migrated to Australia with my wife and three children back in 2002, when I was in my early 40s. When my wife and I first arrived in Perth, we did not speak much English. Navigating a new country with different systems is not easy for any migrants. For those with limited English proficiency, it can be even more challenging. Learning terms like 'Medicare', '100-point ID check' or 'bulk-billing' can be confusing. Documents that prove your qualifications or show your children's progress at school can also be challenging when they are all in English. TIS National services can make all the difference to all migrants, especially the new arrivals.

I enrolled in English classes when I arrived in Australia, first at a local library, then at TAFE, before I joined the WA police force. I think my English has improved in the many years that I have called Australia home, but I will never forget what it was like to be a new migrant with limited English trying to navigate my way in my new home. I will also never forget how difficult it can be to try to access these services in English when you have limited English skills. I acknowledge not only the friends, neighbours and communities that helped me become more Aussie but also the important services like TIS National that help make it easier for all new migrants.

As the federal member for Tangney, I have had many constituents with limited English skill come to my office for support. The TIS National service has been so helpful in assisting them to connect with the services they need. One of my constituents migrated to Australia as an adult with very limited English skill. He spent long days and years on his feet working in a hot and busy kitchen and doing manual labour. It is tiring, backbreaking work. After he was involved in a car accident and was without any family to assist him, TIS National helped by providing interpretation services when he contacted my office. TIS National helped him to access services such as the ATO and the hospital that treated him. TIS National provided him with trusted interpretation and ensured he could access and communicate with these government services in a safe manner.

All Australians must be able to access government programs and services, regardless of their culture or language background. When I was a police officer in Western Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw firsthand the critical nature of this access. As someone who speaks many languages, I have over the years developed close and trusting relationships with many different multicultural communities in Western Australia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, multicultural communities were concerned, in part due to the rumours and misinformation that were everywhere. These rumours and misinformation contributed to the low vaccination rates that we saw in all the multicultural communities, especially in Western Australia. Many of the families and communities with limited English skill were unable to access the accurate information being provided in English by the government. Instead, they saw the misinformation in their home and community languages. Some communities believed this misinformation and refused to get themselves vaccinated.

I saw that we needed to provide all Australians, regardless of their culture or linguistic background, with access to the correct information. As part of my role with the WA police force, I helped to translate the correct information into different languages. Many of my colleagues helped as well, and all of us worked every day to get the translations of the correct information out into the multicultural communities. We had medical professionals go out into the community and we helped translate their words so that communities with limited English could access these experts and professionals. They could ask questions and understand the correct information, and once they were able to access the program and services, I saw how they began to trust information that was based on evidence, not rumours. This ultimately led to increased vaccination rates in our communities.

The WA police force, the health department and all governments and community leaders worked together to make sure communities and people understood the health advice about vaccinations. We made sure people were fully informed about COVID-19 and about vaccination. Key to their understanding was translating and interpreting. This bill—

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This bill reflects our government's commitment to a united, cohesive and multicultural Australia. By passing this legislation, we can continue to build a stronger Australian community for the benefit of all Australians. TIS National's services are essential services for social cohesion. Language support is fundamental to safety, participation, fairness and equality. All Australians must be able to access important services. I speak in support of this bill, which will help ensure these services remain strong, accessible and future ready. If enacted, the proposed legislation will ensure clear and enduring statutory support for TIS National's services.

The bill sets out the functions provided by TIS National, which operates as part of the Department of Home Affairs. The proposed legislation would provide for the performance of these functions. It would enable the Secretary of the Department to provide or arrange for the provision of translating and interpreting services to support communication involving the Commonwealth and its agencies, as well as state and territory and their agencies, by people interacting with the Commonwealth and its agencies as well as with states and territories and their agencies. It would also, in coordination with states and territories, address national needs that would not otherwise be met.

The legislation will also expressly provide for other services provided by TIS National, including developing, training and supporting translators and interpreters to provide services for the purposes of TIS National's core functions. The functions provided for in the proposed legislation support the ongoing provision of these existing services, which are crucial to facilitate communication and engagement with people with limited English language proficiency. This bill provides a clear statutory framework for TIS National's essential services, and I commend it to the House.

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