Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Translating and Interpreting Services Bill 2025, legislation that goes to the core of access, fairness and social cohesion in our country. Australia is proudly a multicultural nation. One in three Australians were born overseas, in all corners of the earth—all contributing to our rich and vibrant country. Hundreds of languages are spoken in homes, workplaces and communities across Australia. But multiculturalism cannot exist in name alone. It must be backed by practical systems that ensure people can engage with government, health care, education and the justice system in a language that they understand. This bill does exactly that.

Under the Whitlam Labor government in 1973, Australia became the first country in the world to provide a telephone interpreting service to ensure that new Australians with limited English proficiency could navigate our government systems and programs and participate fully in our society. This service laid the foundation for what we now know as the Translating and Interpreting Service, or TIS National, within the Department of Home Affairs. This bill continues our commitment, as the Albanese Labor government, to give legislative authority for TIS National to continue its vital work in delivering translating and interpreting services that Australians rely upon.

Currently, TIS National provides translating and interpreting services to agencies across all levels of government, to the private sector and for individuals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The telephone service ensures that emergency services, hospitals, health services, courts, police and frontline government agencies can communicate with people with limited English proficiency at any time, in any circumstance. Alongside telephone services, TIS National provides remote interpreting services via video, and also on-site interpreting services. It operates the Free Interpreting Service, which supports doctors, pharmacists, unions, real estate agents and parliamentarians to communicate with Australians. It also delivers the Free Translating Service, to help new arrivals translate critical documents into English and support their contribution in employment, education and society.

With each wave of migration, TIS National has evolved and met demand. The service has developed and trained translators and interpreters who play a vital role in ensuring that translation of government information in health and legal settings reaches those who need it most.

These services are not niche or marginal; they are central to the functioning of government, and the numbers show it. Right across Australia in the last six months, 777,000 people have used the service nationally, including 77,000 in Queensland alone.

While TIS National has operated for decades, legal advice from the Australian Government Solicitor makes clear that its functions require express legislative authority, particularly in relation to services provided beyond government agencies. This bill provides that certainty. It establishes a clear statutory basis for TIS National in the new act, empowering the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs to provide or arrange translating and interpreting services for Commonwealth government agencies; for migrants; to facilitate communication by government officers; for state and territory governments; by telephone or other means; and under national arrangements addressing shared needs. Importantly, the bill does not change how services are delivered. It strengthens their legal foundation.

Australians trace their heritage from almost every country. This diversity enriches us. It also creates a responsibility—a responsibility to ensure that people can understand their rights and obligations, seek help when they are unsafe or unwell and access services they pay for and are entitled to. It means a patient can understand medical advice, a victim can seek help, a worker can assert their rights and a parent can engage with a school community. That is why we have introduced this legislation, which expressly authorises TIS National to develop, train and support translators and interpreters for our multicultural country.

The robodebt royal commission laid bare the consequences of government programs operating without clear legal authority, transparency or accountability. Since introducing the Racial Discrimination Act in 1973, Labor has championed multicultural policy as a foundation of Australian values and social cohesion. Strengthening translating and interpreting services is just one part of the Albanese Labor government's broader commitment to multicultural Australia.

Before coming to government, Labor established the Multicultural Engagement Taskforce, which consulted widely with culturally and linguistically diverse communities across Australia. The taskforce listened to multicultural Australia to help inform Labor government policies that would affect them. It consulted with culturally and linguistically diverse community leaders, local councillors, service providers, community organisations, business networks and ethnic peak bodies from the cities, suburbs and regions. The taskforce investigated the quality of access to Commonwealth government agencies; current support provided in the areas of small business, entrepreneurship and innovation; barriers and needs regarding access to Commonwealth government services; and networking and partnership opportunities that help link community groups to Commonwealth government services.

The taskforce heard consistently that multicultural and CALD communities were unaware of government services, with language barriers limiting access and communication failures undermining trust. Language was not a peripheral issue; it was a structural barrier. Further, there was significant but underutilised potential for partnership between all levels of government to support grassroots multicultural organisations. When those opposite were in power, they failed to make government services accessible to multicultural and CALD communities. COVID-19 amplified multicultural communities' vulnerabilities and exposed failures under the then coalition. Under the Liberals, NDIS applications were not tailored to the needs of multicultural and CALD communities, and reporting on the equity of access to government services was not mandated. The cuts to the Public Service further undermined the ability of frontline staff to support our multicultural and CALD communities.

We are judged on our commitment to a multicultural Australia not by what we say but by what we do. That is why the Albanese government is investing $190 million over two years to provide direct support through the Supporting Multicultural Communities Program. It will deliver competitive grant funding to support infrastructure, amenities, events and programs for multicultural communities. Young Australians should be connected to the language of their parents, grandparents and communities and take part in the global job market. The government is delivering the Community Language Schools Grants Program, which is enabling schools to deliver professional language programs, and it will play a part in preserving languages in multicultural communities.

We know that community organisations can make significant decisions, plan for the future and better support their membership if they have long-term funding certainty. That is why Labor is investing in the Modernised Multicultural Grants Program. It will deliver longer term funding to support multicultural organisations to hold local events, improve facilities and deliver language programs. Labor also recognises the role of multicultural independent media and their place in sharing important information. The $10 million independent multicultural media grants for transformation and sustainability will support eligible Australian independent media organisations to transition to sustainable new media practices. This program will back their future. These are just some of the Albanese Labor government's programs to strengthen our multicultural nation. Through this bill, we take another step towards making government and services more accessible for multicultural Australia. It is another step towards making Australia more inclusive and a stronger nation.

In Bonner we are fortunate to have a vibrant and multicultural community, where different cultures and traditions come together and shine. There are 48,883 Australians from 167 countries right across the world who call Bonner home. That includes more than 3½ thousand Australians who were born in India and more than 5½ thousand from China. We have people from Kazakhstan, Uruguay and Mozambique. Each and every one of these new Australians can receive translation and interpreting support if they need it to navigate our complex government systems and contribute to our community. In Bonner, there are currently 164 people registered to use the telephone interpreting service. They are being supported to receive the support they need.

This is more than a bill. It speaks to the idea of who we are as Australians. It reflects how we value fairness. It reflects our belief that language should never stand between a person and their rights. It is about ensuring that every Australian, regardless of where they were born, the language they speak at home or how they recently arrived can understand government, access essential services and participate fully in Australian life.

We know that those who have benefited from this service in our country have played a huge part as well in building it—as workers, carers, entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders. It was a Labor government that established the first form of a government funded translation and interpreting service. I'm proud to be part of the Albanese Labor government, which is strengthening the service and enshrining it in the law. Labor stands for an inclusive, multicultural Australia. This bill reinforces that commitment today.

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