Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I might start by first of all congratulating my colleague, the member for Hindmarsh, for bringing forward this motion and recognising the important and vital role played by professional interpreters and translators. I might also acknowledge the work of the NAATI—the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters; and, in Western Australia, WAITI—the Western Australian Institute of Translators and Interpreters, particularly Ms Heather Glass, a formidable force in translating and interpreting and in ensuring that the profession is up to scratch and up to standard.

When we talk about professional translating and interpreting services, it is important that we ensure that those services are available in the community languages that people most need. There are 74 courses for translators and interpreters that are approved by NAATI, 67 of which are delivering training in Chinese and Mandarin, and 10 are delivering training in Hindi, Nepali and Bangla. It is not statistically possible to separate translator or interpreter need by language, and that is because the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, or ANZSCO, does not distinguish between languages. Hence, even though there is no shortage of Chinese and Mandarin translators and interpreters, there is a huge need in other multiple languages, but these statistics do not reflect that.

Qualifications delivered are typically the Diploma of Interpreting and the Advanced Diploma of Translating. However, research in Western Australia has shown that the domestic translating and interpreting industry has a dearth of paraprofessional accredited interpreters and professional accredited translators, although we have a huge demand for professional interpreter accreditation. Clearly, that demand is not being met by the current way the system is set up. Just before Christmas the federal Department of Education and Training announced a list of qualifications that would be included in the new legislation for VET loans. The department gave the industry a token two-week consultation period, and that list proceeded to legislation as drafted.

Under the new legislation, the diplomas of interpreting and translating and the Advanced Diploma of Translating are all eligible for VET loans, but the Advanced Diploma of Interpreting—the one that we need qualifications in, the one that we need professionals and paraprofessionals in—is not. The qualifications that will, therefore, attract VET loans are those applicable to the migration market and not to the domestic market, not to the domestic need—the community languages that are most in need. This is of utmost importance, because it is important that people are given access to accredited and professional translator and interpreting services as they need them.

I want to share with you a story that I heard some time ago about a woman from Afghanistan who gave birth at one of Perth's larger hospitals. After several days the staff there noticed that she was not eating. They eventually brought in an interpreter and they found out that this woman was not eating because she thought she had to pay for the food. She had not eaten anything for several days because she thought she had to pay for the food, and she could not afford it. That was because they did not have an accredited interpreter in her community language available to her upon her entry into the hospital—it took several days for them to get a community language interpreter in that specific language of Dari to talk to her and to realise that that was the reason why she was not eating. That is just an example, along with the example that my colleague, the member for Hindmarsh, gave, of just how important it is to have professional accredited interpreters and translators available to people for health reasons, when they are dealing with the law and when they are dealing with those situations where they need to access services and need to have professional accredited translators and interpreters available.

When I was working for state government I developed the language services policy, which set out a procedure for all government agencies to ensure that they use accredited translators and interpreters because, in some cases, children were being used. Children were being used to interpret confidential medical information for their parents, and that is just not on. Unfortunately, the Western Australian Liberal government stopped using the language services policy but, hopefully, we can bring that back in, because Labor recognises just how important that is.

In closing, I would urge the government to look into the issues I have raised here around the provision of a quality framework for translating and interpreting that is responsive to domestic need, because without that we will continue to hear stories such as those I have just related, and the member for Hindmarsh has related.

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