Good morning. I’m really pleased to be with you at my first AUSIT conference. I congratulate Carl Fordham on his appointment as the new National President, and acknowledge Dr Erika Gonzalez for her service as the acting AUSIT president and for her outstanding contributions over many years, including organising this year’s conference.

I have actually been looking forward to this all week. Not just because being here means I am home in Melbourne – a little break from Canberra in the middle of a torrid final sitting fortnight.

But because I am genuinely fascinated by the translation and interpreting sector – its importance, and the opportunities and challenges we are grappling with.

I’ll confess that I only have two life regrets – so far anyway.

Firstly, that I’ve never lived or worked overseas, something I’d always wanted to do. This is because my daughter was born when I was 22 and family circumstances didn’t allow me to live elsewhere.

And secondly, that – like many Australians – I’ve never learnt a foreign language to fluency. I started a few – French and Japanese at school, and Thai language at University. But it didn’t fit into double degrees in Science and Law and I sadly never stuck with it.

So living amongst the incredible multicultural diversity in my community in south-east Melbourne is the next best thing! I can walk around the corner from home or the office to the Dandenong Market and hear literally more than 100 languages being spoken and experience cultures from much of the world in one place.

Of course, our vast and ancient continent has always been a multi-lingual place, with First Nations Australians speaking over 250 languages. 167 indigenous languages are actively spoken today. I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people as the traditional custodians of the land we gather today, and their traditional language Woi Wurrung.

More broadly, over 300 languages are spoken across modern multicultural Australia – with the five most common languages other than English spoken at home being Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Italian.

Amidst all of this linguistic diversity, English remains Australia’s official and common language and it’s important that as many Australians as possible have a good working knowledge of English.

The last Census though revealed that 700,000 people in Australia over the age of 5 have limited English proficiency.

This is a major barrier to participation in society, and accessing essential public services and information.

But despite the importance of English, I passionately believe that our multilingualism and multicultural society is an enormous national advantage that we need to nurture through ongoing support for language teaching and learning. Both through formal accredited education as well as our rich modern Australian tradition of community language schools.

Growing up in Melbourne, it was just accepted that you couldn’t play with your Greek mates on Saturdays as they’d be at Greek school. Today that is true for a myriad of languages – Hindi, Dari, Mandarin, Arabic, Sinhalese, Tamil and many more.

This is important not just to families, whether to pass on traditions or enable grandkids to understand their grandparents, but also to our nation. Fluent multilingualism, including native speakers and those who have learnt other languages from scratch, enables trade and economic relationships and mutual understanding between Australia and the world that translation cannot ever fully bridge.

In no way to diminish your work, in a vey real sense it can be said that there is no such thing as a perfect translation.

Translation is ultimately an approximation of meaning. Some things only truly exist in their own languages – places, feelings, natural phenomena, colours, stories, cultural concepts, nuances and experiences.

I remember with fondness three dear friends who helped me when I first stood for election in 2015. I had a large Australian-Chinese community, and translated electoral material into written Chinese language. Flora, Sherry and Jennifer would get together and descend into a fierce discussion in Mandarin, changing words, arguing about characters, contemplating Cantonese, and ensuring the nuance was right for readers from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere.

From memory there were some particular difficulties around translating healthcare policy, and ensuring Labor’s campaign to save Medicare from the Liberals’ privatisation plans where properly communicated.

Eventually out would come a mediated negotiated agreed translation that they would all sign off on that did the best job possible at conveying what I was saying – though they’d still tell me some words just don’t translate well.

Imperfect as translation may be, however, I see firsthand, day in and day out, the indispensable work of interpreters and translators.

My electorate office in Dandenong could not operate effectively without translation and interpreting services.

And, the same is true for businesses, hospitals, schools, police, lawyers, emergency services, Centrelink, and other government agencies at every level.

People right across our nation simply could not function without your work.

Large swathes of the government and private sector could not properly service citizens.

This is especially the case in times of crisis, including natural disasters such as bushfires and floods, or health emergencies like the COVID pandemic.

And you are often a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable members of our society in times of critical need.

A brief tangent in that regard, to give a shoutout to an often unrecognised and unpaid group of informal translators and interpreters. The children of refugees and migrants new to Australia who too often assume responsibilities beyond their years in their families by interpreting and translating for their parents and siblings.

It’s often – indeed usually – the case that children pick up English more quickly than their parents, and then help their families to navigate life in a new country.

Some of this is inevitable, but in many instances it would be better for the kids if families more easily and routinely accessed professional interpreting and translation services than have children involved, especially in sensitive medical, family or policing matters.

Since being appointed to this role by the Prime Minister a few months ago and assuming ministerial responsibility for Australia’s translating and interpreting services and Commonwealth policy, I’ve been curious to learn. As I’ve done so I have realised that I now hold this responsibility in what could be termed “interesting times” for the language services sector.

"May you live in interesting times" is a relatively common English expression that many claim is a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. "Interesting times” of course is deeply ironic as the phrase is meant to signal a time of trouble, turmoil or change.

It’s doubly ironic as no one has actually been able to identify any Chinese source for the phrase. Perhaps it was just a bad translation!

The reality is that although we have so much to celebrate, the sector and workforces are under serious stress.

The Multicultural Framework Review released mid this year recognised the important role effective and sustainable languages services play in providing access and equity to key services, particularly in high-risk health and legal settings.

Language services was one of the top three themes identified in the 796 public submissions received by the MFR Panel.

The review was a seriously thoughtful, substantial body of work — the deepest examination of the national multicultural policy settings, services and programs in a generation.

Since the release of the MFR, the government has:

• Announced Budget measures totalling $104 million (over four years from 2024-25) to complement the release of the review and the government response.
• Delivered On Demand Web Translation on Home Affairs’ website – translating over 98 websites into 16 languages. While I’m excited about the role technology can play it can only complement, not replace professionals in providing human-to-human service.
• We’ve also provided funding to re-establish a translating capability with government – putting the T back in TIS so to speak.

The analysis, findings and recommendations of the Review are already impacting government thinking and conversations, and will continue to influence and shape policy and investments for years to come.

My thinking has also been influenced by the Department of Home Affairs’ comprehensive interpreter and translator practitioner report (2023) which drew feedback from more than 2,200 people.

The report aimed to ‘take the pulse’ of the sector by providing an accurate read out on the experiences, feelings and perceptions from frontline workers.

Speaking frankly, the sector’s feedback about the challenges faced by professionals is deeply concerning.

• 60% of respondents wouldn’t recommend an interpreting career;
• 45% were aware of instances of poor-quality interpreting in high-risk assignments; and
• 54% believe that a lack of experience and/or skills in specialised domains are a major factor that leads to poor-quality interpreting, particularly in high-risk settings.

Even aside from perennial efforts to find and accredit people skilled in new, emerging and minority languages, there are serious concerns regarding looming shortages in many languages, including widely spoken and critical ‘legacy’ languages as older professionals move towards retirement.

To directly acknowledge a very large elephant in the room – as has been discussed in and around the conference, wages and conditions are pain points for translators and interpreters. Pay is having a real impact on the sector’s ability to attract and retain people, along with insecure ‘gig-economy’ style working conditions which are not attracting enough people into the sector.

Despite this, it is encouraging that most professional translators and interpreters still find their work personally rewarding, despite the demands of the role.

There are no quick fixes to the pressures facing the sector, but I acknowledge that federal, state, territory and local governments are the largest purchasers of language services in Australia, which brings the responsibility to collectively influence, inform and lead change in the sector as the key market shapers.

Based on AusTender data, we estimate the Australian Government has committed about $400 million over the last five years on interpreting and translating services. This represents as much as 30-40% of the total amount committed by Australian state and territory governments.

The Australian Government’s procurement of language services is fragmented and has resulted in varying levels of service quality as well as conditions for practitioners.

The current state is not ideal, and we need to understand the drivers for this, and to identify viable, efficient solutions. This requires collaboration and will take time to get right, noting the current situation has arisen over many years.

Finding sustainable solutions will require the Commonwealth to work closely with the States and Territories.

The future of translating and interpreting services is a top priority of the next Multicultural Ministerial Forum we are hosting in Canberra on 6 December. Already in November 2023, the group agreed to collaborate to better address challenges undermining the interpreting sector, secure equitable access for people with low English proficiency and work together to drive more efficiently coordinated outcomes for all language service recipients. Language services must and will continue to be a key focus of Ministers.

Supporting this collaborative cross-government policy work the Department of Home Affairs has developed nationwide fora inviting participation by public and private sector stakeholders. These collaborative events will continue to openly discuss the issues impacting the sustainability of the language services sector, to share good practice and to seek ways to address the challenges.

Getting better data and new ideas is critical, and a key working group has an initial focus on data, skills, scholarship and training programs — including tackling the challenges of how we can get more people into the sector and retain them.

Thank you again to AUSIT for the invitation to be with you, and to the many sector leaders and practitioners here at the Conference. In particular I acknowledge the Board Chair of the NAATI and AUSIT Fellow, Magdalena Rowan, the NAATI CEO, Mark Painting, representatives of FECCA and Emiliano Zucchi, CEO of this year’s AUSIT conference sponsor, Language Loop.

Even with improvements in English language capability, the demand for language services will continue to grow.

Recalibrating the sector for a sustainable future is a big and complex job. While an overnight fix is not possible please at least be assured that the problem is acknowledged and is being grappled with.

The Department of Home Affairs is represented here and please don’t be shy in saying hello to them or me, here and in the future.

Thank you.