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

When I was young, my family was very poor. We were a Chinese Malaysian family that worked as rubber tappers in Muar, Malaysia. My language at home was Chinese, but on my daily walk to help my family at the rubber plantation I would walk past the homes of many Malay families. One of those families took me in and treated me as one of their own. The family fed me, the kids and I became good friends and we shared many happy memories together. They spoke Malay; I spoke Mandarin Chinese. So how did we communicate? Well, I learned Malay. That's also something the family taught me. As we played and ate together, I also learned about Malay culture and Malay customs. I may not be of Malay heritage, but I can speak like a Malay and I can eat like a Malay. I understand what it's like to be Malay. Years later, as an adult, I owned a business with operations throughout Malaysia. Some of that success was due to the capabilities I had of the Malay language, culture and people. When you understand people, you can connect with them. You can build trust and respect. You can build relationships that are deep and long lasting.

I speak in support of the report Security and prosperity in Asia: building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. In my electorate of Tangney, I have Oberthur Primary School, which offers a well-known embedded Mandarin language program. From pre-primary to year 6, students take Mandarin language classes but also receive science, measurement and geometry lessons in Mandarin. Many of the students do have Chinese ancestry, but there are also families in the Oberthur catchment that do not have any exposure to Mandarin prior to starting school. For these families where Mandarin is not a home language, having this greater exposure is especially critical if we want more students to be learning Mandarin.

Tangney is also home to Rossmoyne Senior High School, who offer Mandarin and Japanese language classes as well as a gifted and talented program in these languages. While some students attending Oberthur study Mandarin as secondary students at Rossmoyne Senior High School, others who do not reside in the Rossmoyne catchment cannot, because Chinese is not offered at their catchment school.

For native English speakers, Chinese is a difficult language to learn. Basic reading proficiency in Mandarin requires at least 3,000 characters. On average, it takes two to five years of full-time study to reach advanced proficiency. One of the report's recommendations is to work towards bilingual Mandarin Chinese education at secondary level in every catchment that already has a bilingual Mandarin primary. Another recommendation is to designate priority languages of Mandarin, Indonesian, Hindi and Japanese that would attract direct Commonwealth investment through measures such as Asia Leader Schools and language hubs.

I know that many constituents in Tangney will be supportive of these recommendations. Parents often approach me and ask for a solution such as what is being recommended. They see the value of developing fluency in Asian languages. And, having invested heavily in language learning in primary school, they are frustrated when their children cannot continue this study in their secondary schools.

More than 70 countries or regions have introduced Chinese language in their education system. Many education systems see the value of having Chinese language as part of their curriculum, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil are taught with Malay and English throughout the whole education system. Asia accounts for more than 60 per cent of Australia's two-way trade. But employers do not necessarily see the value in recruiting or rewarding those who have experience and capability with Asia. Some employers see language skills as important, but many see a person's ability to speak a second, a third or even a fourth language as something interesting rather than as a key skill.

Language is important, but it does not tell the whole story. Capability means more than language. It is an understanding and respect that is developed through deep cultural study and often significant time spent in a country, not once but over many years. It is being able to understand without needing cultural translation, and it is about being able to build relationships. Both public and private sector employers need to better understand the value of someone who can build bridges across cultures.

Around 80 per cent of member companies of the Business Council of Australia have established international operations. While we acknowledge the importance of Australia's trade with Asia, how many of us actually have Asia experience? And, for people who do have Asia experience, how is this skill measured and valued by their employers? We need to better value these capabilities as a strategic asset. It is alarming to see that school and university language programs, in-country immersion programs and university courses in Asian studies are all declining. These courses are all part of how Australia and Australians can develop their capability with Asia. Yet the inquiry heard expert witnesses predicting the functional extinction of the teaching of Indonesian in Australian schools by 2031. Fewer than 500 of nearly one million domestic university students study Indonesian, at a time when Australians' understanding of Indonesia is of no greater importance.

Australia and India celebrated the sixth anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership this year. There is a great demand for the study of South Asian languages. In my own electorate of Tangney, there are 14 different community language schools, with half of them teaching a South Asian language. But at the same time, South Asian languages are barely taught in schools or universities. This is also an issue that has been raised with me by Tangney constituents.

My community is asking for high quality learning in Asian languages with a pathway from primary to secondary to post-secondary learning in a way that is structured and provides real opportunities to develop fluency and the deep understanding that is so key to this capability. This report offers many recommendations to support a sustainable strategy to build that capability.

Alison Penfold (Lyne, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a completely last minute decision to speak, but it is an important one. I welcome the report of the Standing Committee on Education, Security and Prosperity in Asia titled Building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. The reason that I've chosen to speak on this particular report is my own experience both as a university student and also in my professional career. I was a European humanities student at school, and I studied French and German, but, for a couple of reasons, when I went to university I chose to study Korean language.

There are two reasons for that. One is that I have a goddaughter who was adopted from Korea and my hope was that one day, if she ever wanted to go to Korea and learn about the country of her heritage, that I could go and that I could help her engage with the country. Secondly, I had a lot of friends and colleagues at the time—I'm gen X, and I finished high school in 1989—who were studying Japanese. I had this sense, well before K-pop and K-dramas, that Korea was a country that Australia needed to deepen its relationship with.

So I chose to study Korean language at the Australian National University. I have to say that, despite the fact that some 30 years later my Korean is not much beyond being able to say 'maekju juseyo' to order a beer and 'ajumma, ppalli wa', come here I need a beer quickly, I still very much value the relationship and that experience that I had. Indeed, I had the opportunity through an Asian languages scholarship to actually go and study for a year at Sogang University where not only did I spend time learning Korean in a language school but I also had the opportunity to actually study with Koreans in the classroom. This is the sort of experience that is critical and a key point of the report.

Then in my own professional life, when I was the CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council, part of my job was spending time in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. I came to that job at quite a turbulent time in the industry—after Labor's ban on live cattle to Indonesia. I was responsible to help bridge the divide between our countries, rebuild the trade and help our customers understand the animal welfare requirements that Australia was placing on Australian exporters through the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System. When you go and have those conversations business to business, people to people, it's not just about trade numbers. It's actually about having a deeper understanding of the culture. One of the things I learnt with Korean is you can't directly translate from English to Korean if you don't understand the cultural context in which you are having to explain and get your point across.

As I say, when we're engaging with Asia, it's far more than numbers on a trade balance sheet. It means understanding languages, cultures, history and politics. It means building relationships and networks. Wherever possible, it means actually spending the time in the region. I'm incredibly grateful now, as a member of parliament, to come to this place having that experience and that exposure—having studied Korean language at the ANU and having spent time in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The report describes this capability as a combination of cultural knowledge, language skills and professional networks that allow Australians to engage effectively with our region, and that resonates very strongly with me. When you learn another country's language, you inevitably learn much more than words. You begin to understand how people think, how their history has shaped them, how their society works and how they see Australia and the world. That understanding became so practical to me and, as I say, to bring to my work here in the parliament.

Those experiences reinforced for me that successful engagement in Asia depends on relationships, trust and cultural understanding. You cannot build those things from Canberra, Wauchope, Taree or Tea Gardens. You have to spend time in country, to listen, to understand how business is done, and it's done quite differently. I learnt that very clearly, particularly in my engagement with Vietnamese cattle importers, trying to explain the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, why Australia was implementing it, how decisions are made and what matters to the people that you're dealing with. As I say, in the live export industry, that meant working very directly with businesses, officials and communities across Southeast Asia. It meant understanding not just commercial arrangements but also local expectations, cultural sensitivities and the importance of long-term relationships. That experience taught me that Australian businesses are at their strongest in Asia when we turn up, build trust and invest in understanding our partners.

That's difficult to replicate in a classroom and impossible to replace with an app or an AI translation tool. Indeed, the committee made precisely that point: technology can make translation easier, but it cannot substitute for the cultural understanding and human relationships that allow diplomats, businesses and governments to operate effectively. That is why I'm concerned by some of the figures contained in this report. In 2023, only 3.3 per cent of Australian year 12 students studied one of the previously designated priority Asian languages—Japanese, Chinese or Indonesian. Australia ranked second last among 64 countries for the proportion of year 10 students learning a second language, and only 38 per cent of Australians speak two or more languages, compared with an OECD average of 68 per cent. The situation at university is no better. The report found Asian language enrolments are at a historic low. Only around one per cent of domestic university students were studying an Asian language in 2023, while enrolments at the ANU have fallen substantially across all of the 16 languages it teaches. That certainly concerns me, as an alumni of Asian language study at ANU—an incredible program that ANU has invested in over many decades.

There's a practical economic dimension to this. Australia is a trading nation. Our farmers, miners and regional businesses produce some of the best products in the world, but future prosperity will increasingly depend on our ability not simply to sell into Asian markets but to understand those markets and build enduring relationships with them, which I've seen myself. A businessperson who understands the language, customs and commercial culture of Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia or Vietnam certainly has an advantage. A diplomat or a Defence official who understands the history and perspectives of our neighbours is better equipped to represent Australia's interests. Indeed, on a recent trip to East Timor as part of the Australian Regional Leadership Initiative, I worked with some of our officials from the Australian embassy in East Timor who spoke some Tetum, and that made such a difference when we were up in remote villages and increased that engagement, which made the experience for me. I think those other MPs and senators, who were on the delegation, got so much more out of the visit.

A young Australian who's lived and studied in Asia comes home with knowledge, networks and experience that can benefit this country for decades. That's why I particularly support the report's emphasis on immersion and in-country experience.

The committee recommends continuing support for longer term, language focused study through the New Colombo Plan and considering opportunities for postgraduate students and researchers spending time in Asia. My own experience—I'll finish on this point—tells me that this is money well spent: giving young Australians the opportunity to learn the language and to go and practise it in-country, from just ordering the food to trying to attend a lecture learning about Korean political economy. I tell you what—that was a hell of a class and one of the most difficult language-learning experiences of my life. But I learnt so much not only about Korea but also about the importance of this investment in young people for the future, for building our relationship with Asia.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of their speech for incorporation into Hansard, in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.

Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I would like to speak to the House Standing Committee on Education's report, Building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. I do so as a member of the parliamentary committee. This report goes to the heart of Australia's future prosperity, security and standing in the region.

The report makes a powerful and urgent case: Asia capability is not an optional extra, not a specialist interest and not something we can afford to leave to chance. It is a core national capability. It will help determine whether Australia is equipped to trade, to cooperate, to understand our neighbours and to compete successfully in a region that will shape our economic and strategic environment for decades to come.

For too long, Australia has known this in principle but has failed to act with the sustained seriousness the challenge demands. The report traces decades of inquiries, strategies and policy statements that have all recognised the same truth: our education system must play a central role in building knowledge of Asia, languages of Asia and meaningful engagement with the region. Yet progress has been uneven, fragmented and too often dependent on individual schools, teachers, principals or communities rather than a coherent national effort.

It is not enough to say that Asia matters or to place a reference to Asia in the curriculum and assume the job is done. If we want genuine capability, we need the structures, the leadership, the pathways and the incentives that allow young Australians to move from awareness to learning, from learning to fluency, and from fluency to opportunity.

The report shows that, for many students, the path into Asia capability is shaped more by luck than by design. A student might encounter an inspiring language teacher, a supportive principal, an exchange opportunity or an involved diaspora community.

Another student, with equal interest and potential, may never be offered the same chance. That is not a system built for national resilience; it is a system built on uneven access and inconsistent priorities.

When opportunity depends on luck, the nation loses talent. When language provision is patchy, the country loses continuity. When students cannot see a clear pathway from school into university and then into employment, they lose confidence in the value of study. And when employers do not consistently signal that Asia capability matters, the entire pipeline weakens.

The report compellingly addresses how the education system must connect across the life course. Asia capability should begin in the early years, continue through primary and secondary schooling, be strengthened in tertiary education and be recognised and rewarded in the workforce. If we lose any of those stages, the pipeline weakens.

Early learning matters because children are open to language and difference. Primary school matters because habits are formed and confidence either grows or fades. Secondary school matters because subject choice becomes sharper and pathways clearer. University matters because it should deepen expertise and create the teachers, public servants, researchers and business leaders of the future. The workforce matters because if the labour market does not value these skills, students will question whether the effort is worth it.

The report also exposes a serious data problem. At the national level, we simply do not have enough reliable, consistent information about how many students are learning languages, which languages they are studying, how long they remain in programs, or how pathways continue across the system. Without data, decline can remain invisible until it is severe. That is why the report's call for a national data framework is so important: we need to know where gaps are, where strengths are and where investment will make a difference.

Language is not a side issue in this discussion. Language is the foundation of understanding. It allows people to build relationships, communicate nuance, develop trust and work across difference. It is one of the strongest indicators of whether Australia is serious about long-term engagement with the region.

The committee's concerns about the decline in Indonesian are especially serious. Indonesian is not peripheral to Australia; it is central to one of our most important regional relationships. It is connected to geography, trade, diplomacy, defence, education and people-to-people links. When a language of that importance is at risk in our schools, we should respond with urgency.

The report also notes the importance of other Asian languages, including those linked to South Asia and the growing diversity of Australia's engagement across the Indo-Pacific. Our approach must reflect the region as it is, not as it once was. Australia needs capability in a range of languages and cultural contexts, and that capability must be responsive to demographic, economic and strategic change.

The report recognises the contribution of community language schools and diaspora communities. For many families, language maintenance is part of identity and belonging. These communities have often done extraordinary work with limited support. Their contribution deserves respect, recognition and stronger connection to mainstream education policy.

Equity matters. A child's access to language learning should not depend on whether they attend a well-resourced school or whether their family can pay for extra support. A national education system should offer real opportunity to all students, including those in outer suburbs, regional towns and remote communities. If Asia capability is a national priority, it must be built in a way that is fair and inclusive.

Students are more likely to commit to study when they can see where it leads. The report's focus on clear pathways matters. Students should be able to see a line from school language learning to university study, from university to exchanges or internships and from there into careers in government, education, business and the broader economy. If those pathways are invisible, students will drift away even when they have real potential.

The committee's recommendation for a 10-year national Asia capability strategy is a sensible and necessary step. We need long-term leadership, accountability and coordination. A strategy of that kind would help align education policy with foreign affairs, trade, employment and economic development. It would send a message to schools and universities that this work matters, and it would encourage employers to build demand and reward the people who develop these skills.

Annual reporting to parliament would be a critical part of that approach. If we set national goals, we should measure progress against them publicly. That is how serious policy works: we move beyond warm statements into accountability, and we keep the issue on the agenda long enough to make a difference.

This report also makes clear that the responsibility does not rest with schools alone. Universities, employers, state and territory governments and the Commonwealth all have roles to play. If we ask schools to carry the entire burden, we will continue to get uneven outcomes. If universities do not support specialist study, if employers do not value the capability and if governments do not coordinate, students will receive mixed messages about whether these skills are important.

The costs of inaction are real. If we continue on the current path, we risk losing language programs, weakening teacher supply, narrowing student choice, and diminishing Australia's ability to engage with its region. We risk sending a message to young Australians that study of Asia is optional, uncertain or unrewarded. That would be a profound mistake.

Yet this report gives us hope. The problem is understood and the solutions are available. We know stronger leadership matters. We know sustained investment matters. We know data matters. We know clear pathways matter. We know education, when properly supported, can build the capabilities Australia needs.

I commend the committee for its work and the seriousness with which it approached this inquiry. This is not a report about abstract theory; it is a report about the kind of country we want to be. It asks whether we are prepared to make the choices that will strengthen our children's opportunities, our national capability and our place in the world.

The answer must be yes. Australia's future in the region is too important to leave to chance, and our education system 1s too important to leave disconnected from that future. We should act on this report with urgency, with purpose and with the long-term vision this issue requires.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Pearce for her contribution and the previous speaker for giving, at very short notice, a quite excellent contribution to this important debate. We all know that Australia is facing its most challenging strategic environment since the Second World War. We hear that a lot, and I think there's agreement about the situation and the times that we find ourselves in.

Building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond, the report of the inquiry expertly chaired by the member for Gellibrand, states:

Our neighbours in Southeast Asia are seeking new partners to protect their sovereignty and agency … To succeed in this new world, Australia's leaders and institutions need a deeper understanding of our region's languages, cultures, histories, societies and economies. Asia capability is now a vital sovereign capability.

I know this from personal experience to be true. Like the former speaker, I studied languages at ANU—Indonesian, not Korean. Karena saya bisa bahasa Indonesia saya tahu kita bisa bekerja sama. Dan tanba ha'u bele ko'alia Tetun ita bele serbisu hamutuk. The translation, from Indonesian and Tetun, is: because I can speak some Indonesian and some Tetun, I know that we can work together.

In February of this year, the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, signed the historic Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security, reflecting the close friendship, partnership and deep trust between Australia and Indonesia. The treaty takes our defence cooperation to a new level. Indonesia's status as a key security partner has been solidified, with this treaty supporting bilateral coordination on supply chains, maritime security and enabling faster responses to potential regional crises.

Australia and Indonesia also agreed to strengthen two-way investment through a memorandum of understanding between the Australian government and the Indonesian sovereign wealth fund Danantara. The agreement will increase cooperation in information sharing and help identify opportunities for increased two-way investment, enhancing our shared economic security and resilience. It builds on work to deepen Australia's economic engagement with Indonesia, which is of enormous value to both countries and a key part of Australia's broader effort to diversify our economy through growing markets in South-East Asia. One of the key trading commodities is live cattle, and we support the live export industry a hundred per cent.

The Prime Minister said:

I have come to our region first—because our region comes first. I am here in Indonesia because no relationship is more important to Australia than this one. And no nation is more important to the prosperity, security and stability of the Indo-Pacific than Indonesia.

Australia is committed to boosting trade and investment in the region through Invested: Australia's Southeast Asia economic Strategy to 2040. The strategy is supporting Australian businesses to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities in Indonesia. This is the fastest-growing region in the world in human history, and Indonesia is central to that growth. It's already the fourth-largest nation in the world by population and is projected to be the fifth-largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade.

There are significant economic and defence opportunities in our bilateral relationship with Indonesia, and there is a clear ambition of both leaders, both governments, to realise these. This position of Indonesia as one of our key partners has been reinforced by Indonesia's role in ensuring the supply of fertiliser for Australian farmers and has provided us with crucial support during the current disruptions in the Middle East. The Albanese Labor government has worked with industry and the Indonesian government to facilitate 250,000 tonnes of additional agricultural grade urea for Australian farmers from Indonesia. This demonstrates the close partnership and friendship between Australia and Indonesia. However, we're at risk of losing something vital to that connection, and that is our ability to speak Bahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian language.

Knowing some Indonesian allows me to have conversations with Indonesian friends and colleagues, and through my adult life this has been good for not only me but our country. Looking through the lens, specifically at Indonesia and Bahasa Indonesia, we indeed are facing a crisis. Across Australia, the study of Bahasa Indonesia is in freefall. Australia has had a long history of teaching Indonesian studies; it has led the world in it since the 1950s. Though it still survives among primary schools that have made Indonesian mandatory, and I thank those schools for their wisdom, the number of students learning the language in secondary school has greatly declined, with the number of year 12 students being halved in a single generation.

I was recently contacted by academics that expressed deep concerns about the proposed changes to Deakin University's language program. These changes include downgrading the Indonesian language from a major to a minor, abolishing the Diploma of Languages and, perhaps most concerningly, moving all language provisions from in-person to online. These changes would severely diminish the learning experience of language students and have a significant impact on achieving any level of language fluency. It also flies in the face of this parliamentary committee's findings that we are at a critical juncture for our country's Asia capability.

These proposed changes are an example of a much broader trend, which I'll discuss in a second. But, before I move on from Deakin University, I want to give a quick example. One of my younger brothers studied Bahasa Indonesia at Deakin and got some work experience at the Quiksilver surf company in Bali, but because he spoke Indonesian he went on to have a wonderful first part of his career with that company, and then he moved on to other companies. He's done so well not only because he's a good bloke but also because he spoke Bahasa Indonesia. You'll find a lot of people around our country with similar experiences.

Since 2001, the number of school students learning Indonesian has declined by 10,000 each year. University enrolments have dropped by more than 60 per cent since their peak. Alarmingly, respected schools in the Northern Territory—which is a jurisdiction of our country that I'm proud to represent, and Territorians are so close to Indonesia—like Essington, Haileybury and other schools and universities across our country are considering ending their Indonesian programs altogether. I've spoken with them about this and I hope that they see the wisdom of continuing with Indonesian.

With the opportunities I've outlined today, my younger brother being one, my experiences is that of so many other Australians. This decrease, Australian students having less opportunity to study Bahasa—whether they be at primary school, secondary school or university—is happening at exactly the wrong time. That is why our government has committed to financial assistance to 600 community language centres and provided record public school funding to get more kids studying languages through to year 12. We're investing in reversing the decline in languages and Asian literacy, with a focus on Indonesian and other priority languages.

My pain point is that this isn't just about classroom learning; it's actually about our national capacity. There are many good programs that have been in existence in the past but are now no longer. I think we should be looking at them and continuing to find those community-to-community approaches, those business-to-business approaches and those subnational engagements as well as the important work that we do at a national level and at a parliament-to-parliament level with our near neighbours in the ASEAN. Australia has always wanted to influence the Indo-Pacific, but we also need to start making the tangible impact that comes from knowing our region better.

Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My career prior to entering parliament included time working in education policy, and I'm proud to serve as a member of the House Standing Committee on Education, who conducted this inquiry. At the outset I'd like to add my thanks to the committee staff, who do so much exceptional work and made it possible for the members of the committee to complete this inquiry. I would also like to thank the many community members, academics, education leaders and interested stakeholders in this space who shared their expertise, knowledge and experience with us and contributed significantly to the conclusions of the report.

Australia faces the most complex strategic environment since the Second World War ,and the challenges it brings are happening on our doorstep in the Asia-Pacific. Our national interests in Asia are unique, and we cannot necessarily rely on other countries to share our priorities. Our capacity to express our own perspectives and assert our own national interests relies on a sovereign capability to engage with our neighbours in the region. What was abundantly clear over the course of our inquiry was that building our Asia capability is of profound importance for our security and economic success in the region, and we have never needed this understanding of both language and culture more than we do right now.

As has been said many times in this place, Indonesia is a pivotal partner of Australia in our region. As a result, it is of significant importance that we develop and maintain an understanding of Indonesia's language and culture amongst our diplomats, business people and communities to facilitate our effective engagement. As the member for Gellibrand noted when he presented the report to the House, as chair of the committee, Indonesia was the first non-Indigenous language spoken in Australia via the Makassan traders interacting with First Nations people on our northern shores. Unfortunately, there has been a concerning trend in Australia's Bahasa Indonesia capability: there are currently fewer than 500 university students studying Bahasa, fewer than there was under the Whitlam government 50 years ago when Australia's population was less than half of what it is today. Indeed, unless something changes, it is projected that Indonesian language teaching is at risk of being functionally extinct in Australia in just five years time.

This is an ominous sign for our ability to engage with one of our most important partners. With submissions noting that a recent DFAT graduate recruitment round did not include a single Indonesian speaker, the pipelines of Indonesia capable members of our public service and diplomatic corps is at risk of drying up. While this Labor government is making strides in our relationship with Indonesia, signing the Jakarta treaty, more and more these milestones are being met in spite of a waning capability rather than because of a strong capacity. Past Indonesian presidents have made it clear that Australian students learning Bahasa Indonesian, as well as Indonesian students studying here in Australian universities, were integral to our bilateral partnership. The committee recommends that the government treat an Indonesian language schools intervention package as a first-order priority, as well as designating Indonesian as a priority language—both measures that will be important in addressing this decline.

Further, Australia has one of the largest and fastest-growing economies nearby in our region: India. Just six years on from the signing of the comprehensive strategic partnership, we are well positioned to benefit from greater collaboration on science, technology, defence industry, agriculture, education and tourism. This opportunity brings with it a greater incentive for Australians to seek work in key innovative industries or in outward-facing Public Service departments to understand the nuances of South Asian culture and language. However, the various South Asian languages are barely taught in either schools or tertiary institutions across our country. Indeed, in Australia, the teaching of these languages is largely done by diaspora communities and families rather than larger education institutions. Much like Indonesian, the report recommends that Hindi be made a priority language.

Finally, our relationship with China remains crucial. This government, led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, has ensured that our relationship is characterised by respectful dialogue that promotes active engagement but also defends our national interests. In order to continue to support this important relationship, Australia needs a strong expertise in Chinese language, politics, economics, history and all of its nuances. The National Foundation for Australia-China Relations has outlined that this expertise is in significant need of expansion as currently it is held by a narrow group of subject matter experts.

The recommendations of the report are clear—firstly, a 10-year national Asia capability strategy that recognises the importance of sovereign, homegrown capability. The committee further recommended that the strategy designate Mandarin, Indonesian, Hindi and Japanese as priority languages to attract Commonwealth investment and other measures. A number of the report's recommendations focus on how government can put students on the path to further study and success through targeted reform and investment in primary and secondary schools. One of the stand-out recommendations in this group of proposed reforms is working with the states and territories to encourage students to study one of the priority languages in year 12 by rewarding those who complete their course with a five-point ATAR bonus and pathways to university credit recognition, with guardrails to encourage genuine language attainment. This was based on evidence we heard about some of the concerns individuals had when deciding on whether to learn a language as part of their studies. This sits alongside programs to build our language-capable teaching workforce by helping existing teachers with knowledge of certain languages to upskill in order to teach students formally, ensuring new members of the teaching workforce have Asian language skills by designating places in the Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships Program to individuals with a specialisation in priority languages, and building the skills of both existing and pre-service teachers through an Asian language intensive program that builds specialisations.

The report also suggests reforms to the tertiary education system to recognise the need to develop Asia capability, establish a network of Asian language hubs to guarantee the availability of courses and prioritise government funding for higher degree research, with a focus on Asia—amongst many other reforms.

I want to conclude with a reflection. I mentioned at the start of my contribution that I worked in education policy previously, but early in my career I also spent time serving as an Australian diplomat. My time at the department gave me so many incredible experiences, including engaging with countries across the Asia-Pacific. I can say from personal experience that Asia capability is pivotal to ensuring Australia is able to effectively engage with our neighbours. So many of our diplomats are genuine subject matter experts, shining examples of what Asia capability looks like in practice. But what is consistent is the starting point: early engagement and interest in Asia. Both our current and most recent former ambassadors to Indonesia can trace their career back to an exchange semester in Indonesia as young students. They now stand at the forefront of our engagement with one of our most important strategic partners.

We have so many talented young people who are capable of building that expertise to be the future of our regional engagement, but we must make sure the system allows them to reach that potential. This is what this report emphasises, and I'm pleased to be part of a government that both recognises its importance and is willing to meet the challenges we face head on.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say what a pleasure it is to be speaking in this debate after the member for Banks, Zhi Soon and just before the members for Reid, Sally Sitou, and Menzies, Gabriel Ng. The Labor caucus has become a better caucus in the 16 years that I've served in it. One of the ways it's become better has not only been your entry into the caucus, Deputy Speaker, but also the greater diversity that we now have in our caucus—a caucus which now looks more like the community that it serves.

When I was five, I briefly attended a primary school in Banda Aceh in the north of Sumatra. Our lessons were conducted in Indonesian, and much of the school day consisted of learning nation-building songs, because the national government wanted to ensure that all Acehnese thought of themselves as Indonesian first and Acehnese second. We played in the muddy playground, and my mother recalls at the time that the sole white child in the class was also the only child whose white shirt came home brown at the end of every day.

My father, Michael Leigh AM, was working at Syiah Kuala University helping strengthen social science research across Indonesian universities and Islamic institutes. My mother was beginning her research on Acehnese crafts, which she turned into a book, Tangan-Tangan Trampil: Seni Kerajinan Aceh = Hands of Time: The Crafts of Aceh, and then on Indonesian education, including the Pancasila principles, which became her doctoral thesis. We lived in Aceh for two years and in Jakarta for a year, and that helped shape how I see our region and the value of Australia engaging with the world.

Australia is at its best when we see multiculturalism as a strength and international engagement as a quality. We benefit from those person-to-person links, which allow Australians to be more secure, to be more economically prosperous and to enjoy so much of what the region has to offer through our outbound tourism and the benefits that inbound tourism brings to Australia in jobs and prosperity. The government has placed the Indo-Pacific at the centre of our foreign policy. The Prime Minister chose Indonesia for his first bilateral visit after the 2022 election. Foreign Minister Wong set herself the task of visiting every ASEAN country except Myanmar in her first year, along with every member of the Pacific Islands Forum. And since we came to office, Australian ministers have made more than 140 visits to South-East Asia, including 20 by the Prime Minister and 31 by the Foreign minister. The PM has attended every summit with ASEAN leaders. The foreign minister has attended every ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Showing up is a statement of intent in our region. We have also invited the region to Australia, hosting the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne in 2024, marking 50 years since Australia became ASEAN's first dialogue partner and creating the largest diplomatic gathering Australia had hosted in more than a decade.

We have continued to engage with the region through the Jakarta treaty signed this year—the Australia-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security—and through the third Australia-India annual summit held in Melbourne last month, during which Prime Minister Modi visited Australia and agreed to expand the comprehensive strategic partnership and pursue fresh areas of economic cooperation. Australia has supported Timor-Leste's accession as ASEAN's 11th member and stabilised the relationship with China while protecting Australian interests and without compromising what matters to Australians.

Our foreign policy is also strengthened through our strong engagement with First Nations Australians. A point that I remember former Foreign minister Bob Carr making to me is that, when you engage in international meetings, your domestic policies and particularly your policies as they relate to First Nations people are taken into account in how other nations engage. Asia accounts for some 60 per cent of our two-way trade, and we benefit from Asia being such a fast-growing region and from our engagement in the region.

It's in that context that the government commissioned the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education to complete a report titled Security and prosperity in Asia: building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. I commend the member for Gellibrand, Tim Watts, for his leadership on this report. It received some 195 submissions and held 11 public hearings. It defines Asia capability broadly, including language proficiency and cultural literacy, country knowledge and regional experience. Its main argument is that Asia capability is a sovereign capability, one that Australia can exercise in its own right.

There are some really troubling statistics in the report. Domestic university enrolments in South-East Asian languages fell 75 per cent between 2005 and 2024. Of Australia's one million domestic university students, just 500 are studying Indonesian. At the year 12 level, enrolments in Indonesian fell from 1,161 in 2010 to 486 in 2024. I confess that my own Bahasa has faded over the years, though I do sometimes like to remind my children that, while English just has the word 'hot', Indonesian has 'panas' meaning hot in temperature and 'pedas' meaning spicy. That can help us at dinner. It doesn't help that my Indonesian proficiency is sadly unequal to that of the 500 Australians who are studying at Australian universities.

We have the example of great scholars such as Herb Feith and Jamie Mackie, whose work built stronger ties, but we need more of that kind of Indonesian engagement. The problem comes too in China expertise. In the five years to 2021, only 17 students completed honours in Chinese studies with language, and, among more than 2,300 postgraduate coursework programs offered by Australian universities, only 21 include an Asia focused specialisation. Hindi is taught at only two Australian universities despite the fact that Australia's Indian diaspora is around a million people, including a terrific community in my electorate of Fenner. The report recommends stronger pathways through schools and university language hubs supported by better national data. It understands that, while AI translation is getting better, it doesn't bring the cultural literacy that bilingualism does. It acknowledges how important it is to have school exchange or university placements. A homestay can create those relationships and memories that can sustain years of study. The report also recognised the way in which Australian institutions can sometimes overlook expertise that is already inside their workplace. Employees notice who gets promoted based on their language skills or their regional networks that sit outside their formal job descriptions.

The report also notes that, while Asian-language learning is declining at the school and university levels, we have a great strength in our community language schools. In 2023, 631 community language schools taught more than a hundred languages to over a hundred thousand students. I see in my own electorate the terrific work of community language schools being done. But that is not translated into formal skills recognition or into community teachers having workable pathways into qualified classroom teaching.

We need to see more Australian business leaders championing Australian capability in position descriptions. We need to see more board members asking whether regional strategy draws on people with genuine country knowledge. We need to have universities and employers maintaining a closer conversation about demand which allows students to see clear pathways into great jobs as a result of studying Indonesian or Hindi. We need to support more Asian Australian staff into senior roles through peak bodies such that exist in the legal services sector. Organisations such as Asialink, with whom I spoke last Friday, are doing a power of good in building these skills across the region.

When I sat in that Banda Aceh classroom, my understanding of Indonesian came through songs and stories. Today, we need that expertise built through business ties, and this terrific report is a great place to start.

Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

When I was younger, with a lot of obligation on my part and no sense of joy, I had to trek off to Chinese school because it was something that my parents felt very strongly about. I hated it and resisted it, and therefore my Mandarin language skills have been stuck at the age of eight. I have now inflicted that same chore on my son. Every Friday afternoon, after school, I drive him to Chinese school. He is as reluctant a Chinese student as I was. But it was important that I went to Chinese school. It is important that he goes to Chinese school. We are trying to foster a love of the language with him. It is one of the most frustrating languages to learn and speak, but we're trying. We try because it is important for our family. It's important that he can speak to his grandparents. But it's also important that he has a strong connection to his heritage. That is why we will continue to persist every Friday afternoon.

A few decades after a very petulant Sally was trying to avoid Chinese school—I lived in Beijing in 2008. And I wish I had paid more attention in Chinese school! But it was during that time that I really understood the power of having an understanding of the country, its cultures and traditions, the power of that for Australia and the power of the ability to bridge cultures, have a shared understanding of each other and to bring the best of both worlds. It was an incredible time to be living in China. It is a memory that I will always, always treasure. It is an experience that we hope our son will get an opportunity to have as well.

The member for Fenner remarked upon the diversity of our caucus. I am very proud to be part of an extraordinary Labor government which has a female majority, and we have incredible diversity in our caucus. Sitting alongside my friends and good colleagues the member for Banks, who spoke earlier; the member for Tangney, who speaks an incredible array of languages; the members for Holt, Swan and Menzies; and everyone who comes into this place with different backgrounds and experiences is a real privilege for me—to get to serve alongside them.

But of course the original, the OG, is Senator Wong, someone I have looked up to for a really long time and the first Asian-born minister our country has had. It is wonderful to have her as our foreign minister. And that is in the great Labor tradition. We are a party that has always sought to build close relations with our neighbours, and we have done that for more than half a century now. It was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who established diplomatic relations with China in 1972. It was Prime Minister Bob Hawke who drove the creation of APEC. It was Prime Minister Paul Keating who said that our engagement with the region has to be uncompromising, unfailing and tenacious. It was Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, our first Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister—who puts my Mandarin to shame!—who said that Australia is fundamentally enmeshed in Asia. And it was the Gillard Labor government that produced the 'Asian century' white paper, setting out our national plan for engagement with Asia.

With prime ministers from Whitlam to Hawke and Keating to Rudd and Gillard and now to Prime Minister Albanese, ably assisted by foreign minister Penny Wong, you know that this government has invested in our relationships with our region, with our neighbours in Asia, and you have seen the extraordinary amount of effort and time that has been put into those relationships, including a really extraordinary visit that foreign minister Penny Wong made to her hometown in Malaysia. I think that was a beautiful tribute to her connection to the country she was born in as well as the country she now serves as foreign minister.

But those relationships cannot exist only between leaders or diplomats. They have to exist between our people. We need Australians who understand and love the languages, cultures, histories and societies of the countries that are closest to us. That is what we mean when we talk about Asian capability. Australia's prosperity is interlinked with our neighbours. It is interlinked with Asia. Trade with our Asian partners is growing, and exporters rely on Asian markets. We rely on Asian markets for the supply chains that stretch across the region. Some of the fastest-growing economies in the world are right on our doorstep, and that is something Australian businesses can take advantage of.

And we are succeeding. We are forming those bonds, we are making those trades and we are opening up those markets. But it requires people to understand how business is conducted and to understand local institutions and cultures in those countries and the contexts they operate in. That's the only way you can build lasting relationships: if it is done on mutual understanding. And as much as Asia capability is important for Australian businesses, trade, investment and jobs, it is equally important to our national security. We live in a region that is experiencing profound strategic change. Australia needs more diplomats, defence personnel, public servants, researchers and national security professionals who understand our closest neighbours and who know their political systems, their histories and their languages and who understand how Australia and the world look from their perspective.

That is why this report is so important, because it asks us how we build Australia's Asia capability, not just for the next few years but for generations ahead. When challenges arise, whether they are economic or security related, those skills and relationships cannot simply be switched on; they take years to build and develop. That is why this report describes Asia capability as a vital sovereign capability and recommends a 10-year national capability strategy, bringing together departments of education, foreign affairs and defence and state governments across Australia.

There are a few places in Australia where the potential of that capability is more obvious than in my community. We are home to families from right across Asia. You see that in many of the suburbs, such as Burwood, Strathfield, Homebush and Lidcombe, and you see that in the small businesses, schools and community groups. People in my community speak Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Punjabi, Vietnamese, Tamil and Bengali—a whole range of Asian languages—at home. That is an enormous asset and one that we need to nurture.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been something that previous governments have focused on. I was speaking to a professor at the University of Sydney, and he said that because of the way our education system is set up, where we're not supporting the learning of a second language, we are wasting a lot of this incredible talent. Young children are coming into our education system multilingual, having learnt different languages at home, but, by the time they go through our education system and finish, they come out monolingual, not having retained their other languages. I think that is a real shame, so I really welcome the report and commend the work that the committee has done. I commend the work that the member for Gellibrand has done in chairing this committee. They have identified that we do need to support Asian capability and Asian language learning and that is going to help Australia's national security interests as well as our economic interests.

Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Our minister for education called education the great equaliser in an unequal world. I strongly share that belief, and I'm confident that it's shared by many members in this place. Many years ago, I completed my own teacher training. I'm also a mother to two young boys. I know education shapes every child's future. Every child deserves the best education Australia can offer, whatever school their family chooses. Good teachers shape learning outcomes, civics education and media literacy protect our democracy, and, importantly, languages open up other parts of the world.

These beliefs are why I am so pleased to serve on the House Standing Committee on Education. I am proud of the report our committee has presented, Security and prosperity in Asia:building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. At the outset, I want to thank our chair, the member for Gellibrand, and the deputy chair, the member for Nicholls, for leading all of my committee colleagues through this process.

Australia's security and prosperity are tied to our region. We need people who speak its languages, understand its cultures and histories and have built trusted relationships there. We refer to this as 'Asia capability'. It is a national capability built in classrooms, universities and workplaces and through time spent in the region. The evidence of our nation's capability showed a pipeline deep in trouble. Domestic enrolments in South-East Asian languages at Australian universities fell by 75 per cent from 2005 to 2024. Take the study of Indonesian, for example, where we heard some of the most concerning evidence. Barely 500 of Australia's one million domestic university students study Indonesian. At school, 3.3 per cent of Australian year 12 students studied a priority Asian language in 2023. Year 12 Indonesian enrolments fell from 1,160 students in 2010 to 486 nationwide in 2024. In my home state of Queensland, the figures are even more stark. Four students across our state were projected to sit a year 12 Indonesian exam in 2026. Witnesses to our inquiry warned that Indonesian teaching faces functional extinction in Australia by 2031. Indonesia is one of Australia's closest and most consequential neighbours. Losing our ability to teach Indonesian weakens our ability to understand the country and build strong relationships with its people.

Translation technology in the age of AI just cannot fill that gap. We heard evidence that software can translate words, but it can't read a room, understand history and build trust and relationships. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA, conveyed this to our committee very well. A calculator can produce an answer, but the user still needs enough mathematics to know whether that answer makes sense.

Australia's Asian Australian communities hold deep language skills and cultural knowledge, yet heritage language skills often fall across generations. Families told our inquiry they want formal study for their children. Many South Asian Australian students have little access to Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali or Tamil. We have wonderful language programs right across my community of Griffith through so many of our schools. Of the 19 state schools in and around Griffith, 11 offer at least one Asian language. Japanese is taught at nine of these state schools and Chinese at five. That gives us a good base, but the full picture shows how narrow the choices remain. Those 19 state schools provide 35 language offerings; 14 offer Chinese or Japanese, and the remaining 21 are European or other languages. The gap is clearer among 13 schools that offer only one language. Just five teach an Asian language.

We have strong foundations across Griffith, but the pathway can break as soon as a student changes school. A child may begin Japanese at primary school and then enter a secondary school where it is unavailable. Another student may study Chinese through to year 12 and then find no clear university course or career path. A passionate teacher can spark a lifelong interest in a language and culture, but we cannot ask individual teachers to carry a national capability on their shoulders alone.

We have local examples of learning experiences that this report seeks to support. We've got so many great state schools offering fabulous programs, including West End State School, East Brisbane State School and Brisbane State High School. Among other colleges in my area, Cannon Hill Anglican College has run Japan tours for their students for more than 20 years. Senior students visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima. They complete a four-day homestay. Peter Nakamura, the college's head of faculty for languages, has seen students use their Japanese in daily life. Some return as adults to reconnect with host families.

Last year at Villanova College, students joined more than 450 language learners from 20 schools at the University of Queensland's Go Borderless Languages Experience Day. Villanova students then took part in a 13-day China immersion tour, using their Chinese in Beijing and attending school in Nanjing. These experiences give students a reason to keep studying, but not all students and all families are able to afford access to these types of programs. We know interest grows through real contact. The proposed Asia leader schools draw on this practice and act as hubs for high-quality teaching. The proposed Australian Schools in Asia Consortium will help schools run immersion and exchange programs. ATAR incentives and university credit pathways will reward continued study.

I know the effect of cultural immersion from my own life. For me, that particular exposure was in the Pacific. At 16, I travelled to the Solomon Islands, and I stayed at the Melanesian Brotherhood Central Headquarters at Tabalia and at Selwyn College near Maravovo as part of my school trip. I fell in love with the Solomon Islands language and culture, and I made lifelong friends. Anyone who knew me as a teenager can probably picture the Solomon Islands material that filled my bedroom.

I had the great honour of meeting the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, the Hon. Matthew Wale, during his visit to Australia earlier this year, in June. The Solomon Islands sit in the Pacific, and the same lesson applies across our broader region. Time in another country builds understanding that no app can reproduce. Australia and the Solomon Islands share ancient cultural links, close geography and a history of standing together through hard times. Meeting the Prime Minister brought me back to the friendships and curiosity that began when I was 16 years old. We need to make sure our future generations of young people have that same chance to form those connections in our region too, particularly in Asia.

The committee made 34 recommendations. The report recommends a national Asia capability strategy, backed by a national data framework and dashboard. Australia needs clear goals and reliable information on subjects, enrolments, teachers and pathways. It recommends Asia leader schools and the Australian Schools in Asia Consortium. It recommends the recognition of heritage language learning in classrooms. It backs targeted support for language teachers, a larger supply of specialist teachers and continuing professional development.

For universities, the report recommends placing Asia capability among the priorities set by the Australian Tertiary Education Commission. It seeks protection for nationally strategic Asian languages in university funding agreements and shared language hubs for cross-institutional study. The report calls on the Commonwealth to lead through its own recruitment. Government agencies should recognise Asia capability as a priority in relevant jobs. Students need to see where language and regional knowledge can take them. Together, these recommendations connect primary school interest with secondary study, university courses and real careers. They support the teachers and institutions needed at each stage.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every person and organisation that made a submission and attended our public hearings. The committee received hundreds of contributions and heard from dozens of witnesses, many of whom have spent their working lives helping Australians learn about our region. Teachers kept small classes open; researchers protected courses under pressure. Their participation shows parliamentary committees at their very best. Members tested evidence, asked questions and weighed different views. Good policy grows from this exchange. It helps us as elected representatives make better decisions. I offer special thanks to the outstanding staff in the committee secretariats as well, Joel Bateman and Lisa Deans. Their expertise helped turn hundreds of submissions, hearing transcripts and policy ideas into a clear report for our parliament, with the member for Gellibrand's leadership.

For local students, this report highlights the opportunity before us. It is about the child learning Japanese at East Brisbane State School, who deserves a path through secondary school. It's about the student studying Chinese at Brisbane State High School, who deserves to see a future for that skill. Australia needs the knowledge and confidence to make its own way in Asia. The capability starts with a teacher, a classroom and the chance to meet people in our region. To every teacher, academic, student and community leader who contributed: thank you. You kept these subjects alive through years of uneven policy attention. This report is for you and for the students you have yet to teach.

Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the House Standing Committee on Education's report, Security and prosperity in Asia: building Asia capabilityin Australia through the education system and beyond. At its heart, this report asks a very simple but important question: what kind of nation do we want Australia to become? Do we want an Australia that engages with our neighbours in Asia, opens the pathways of cultural and economic exchange and seizes the opportunities of being in the fastest developing region in human history or an Australia that is insular, backward looking and stagnant?

As my friend the member for Banks said earlier in regard to this report, this is one of the most complex geopolitical environments in our region since World War II. There are many areas where there is strategic competition, and we need to ensure that we maintain an international rules based order built on free trade. The Albanese Labor government and our minister for foreign affairs have demonstrated again and again that we have the capability to be a mature and long-term government that builds stronger ties within our region. We've built stronger security ties with Indonesia, Singapore and Japan—as well as, just this week, Vietnam—and we've repaired the relationship in our first term of government with our largest trading partner, China. Geography has made us a part of this region, but the choices we make today will determine whether we have the opportunity to grow with it.

I acknowledge the outstanding work of the chair, the member for Gellibrand, and every member of the committee on this report. Together, they have produced a thoughtful and forward-looking commentary that challenges us to make the most of the incredible opportunities before us. The committee has made 34 recommendations to reprioritise Asia within Australia's education system and ensure all Australians have the opportunity to learn about Asia and its languages. Together, they present a vision for a more confident Australia that understands its neighbours, embraces its diversity and equips future generations to thrive in the region we call home.

A child who learns an Asian language in primary school may become a diplomat who negotiates Australia's interests decades from now. A student who participates in an exchange program may one day establish a business that creates jobs here, in Australia. A young Australian who develops friendships across our region may go on to become a researcher, a teacher or a public servant who strengthens Australia's place in the Indo-Pacific. Yet the inquiry also heard a number of warnings.

Participation in Asian language has declined markedly. The report warns that Indonesian language teaching is set to become functionally extinct within the next five years. Only 3.3 per cent of Australian year 12 students studied Chinese, Indonesian or Japanese in 2023, which is down from 4.7 per cent in 2012. Domestic enrolments in South-East Asian languages at Australian universities fell by 75 per cent between 2005 and 2024. That's not a trajectory that we want to see continue.

Specialist university programs are under increasing programs. Opportunities for young Australians to immerse themselves in the region remain uneven and, too often, depend on the region where they live, circumstances or financial means rather than just their talent, ambition and hard work.

At precisely the moment Australia's role in Asia is becoming more important than ever, our engagement with it risks falling behind, and that should concern every one of us. If we fail to invest in Asia capability today, we are narrowing Australia's future. We are limiting the relationships we can build, opportunities we can seize and the influence that we can exert in Asia that will shape this century.

In my community in Menzies, these connections are part of everyday life. At the last census, around 44 per cent of people were born overseas, compared with 28 per cent nationally. We are one of the most diverse communities in the country. Forty-six per cent of people speak a language other than English at home, and, of the top five places of birth, four are in Asia: China, Malaysia, India and Hong Kong. If you walk through our local shopping precinct, you hear the languages from across the region. If you visit our school, you meet students whose families have stories that stretch across continents. If you speak to local businesses, you quickly discover that many of their customers, suppliers and partners are found throughout Asia.

Last Saturday night, I was fortunate to be at the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse's Victorian excellence business awards with the Prime Minister, where we celebrated many multicultural businesses across a range of fields—like tourism, hospitality, trade—and we were able to recognise some of those outstanding Victorian businesses who give so much to our state and so much to our community. I'd like to congratulate the president of ABAW, Bihong Wang, on another excellent event, as well as all of the executive and the volunteers with ABAW, the award nominees and the award recipients.

As someone of mixed Chinese Singaporean and Anglo-Celtic Australian heritage, engagement with Asia is something which is deeply personal to me. When we were growing up, we were fortunate enough to be able to visit my dad's family in Singapore every few years and enjoy the amazing food that's there as well as, as I grew older, learn about the incredible story of Singapore and how it had gone from being a third-world country to a first-world country within a generation. When my dad was growing up, he slept in a house with a dirt floor in the same room as his five brothers and sisters. Now, my cousins live in high-rise apartments that are built on reclaimed land. They've got a world-class public transport system that I think many people in Australia would envy, incredibly high rates of homeownership and a government that, in many ways, delivers on the social contract and has enjoyed the support of the Singaporean people for a long time. I think there is a lot that we could learn from Singapore.

My wife is Japanese, and I was lucky enough to live in Japan for 18 months, which is where we met. I was teaching English there. Similarly, there is a lot that we could learn from Japan in terms of public transport and innovations like modular housing, which they have and use extensively. That could be part of the picture that we could take from that country to learn how we could increase our productivity in the construction sector.

Indeed, many Australian businesses and developers are looking to other countries, as this report would recommend, to learn about their innovations and their expertise. That is why one of the committee's most important recommendations is the development of a 10-year national Asia capability strategy. For many Australians, school is where curiosity first takes root. It's where a child hears another language for the first time, where teachers bring the rich culture and history of our region to life. The committee's recommendation to establish Asia leader schools recognises that we already have extraordinary examples of excellence across Australia—schools that have built strong language programs and have forged lasting partnerships with communities throughout Asia, schools where cultural understanding is a part of everyday learning.

In Menzies, we're fortunate enough to have schools and community organisations already fostering many of these connections. Some of those would be language schools on the weekends. We have a number of Chinese language schools where people of Chinese heritage and also the wider community have the opportunity to learn a language that, again, helps us connect better with one of our largest trading partners. These schools remind us that education is about preparing young people to participate confidently in an increasingly connected world.

The committee also recognises that some of the most powerful lessons take place beyond the classrooms. There is something transformative about being able to go to another country, navigate their culture and discover that what once felt unfamiliar is beginning to feel understood. No textbook can fully replace the experience of living and studying and working alongside people whose experiences are very different from our own. Programs like the New Colombo Plan have shown us what is possible. They have enabled thousands of young Australians to build friendships, develop professional networks and gain a deeper appreciation for our region. Those young Australians will return home with a broader perspective and greater confidence to represent Australia on the world stage. That is one of the great opportunities that building our Asian capability brings.

But it's also one of the great opportunities that a diverse Australia brings. As I said, we have people of diverse backgrounds, of multicultural backgrounds, in my electorate of Menzies, and them being able to bring their language skills, their cultural skills and also the people-to-people networks and the business opportunities that brings means that we'll be able to better engage with our region and with the opportunities that the future presents. That's what we mean when we say diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and that is why we're absolutely committed to multiculturalism in Australia. I commend this report to the House.

Debate adjourned.