John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

and of course nothing alters the absolute essentiality for people who come here who do not speak English. I take this opportunity of making the point—which is not what the Deputy Leader of the Opposition was inferring in her question—that I am not suggesting for moment that everybody who comes to this country should be able to speak the English language when they arrive. I have never suggested that. What I have suggested is that, if people come to this country with an imperfect knowledge of English, they have a heavy obligation to learn it and to learn it as soon as possible, because it is a passport to success.

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