Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

There are two things that come out of that. I am not sure whether I have made myself clear in asking my questions. I accept that there is a separate budget, that that is where the funding comes from and that the funding for the English language programs will continue. I totally accept that. I note the comments that the then parliamentary secretary Andrew Robb made some time ago, at the time at which the citizenship test was being proposed, in which he said that if we needed to increase the funding for English language programs as a result of the introduction of the citizenship test then that was open. I recall those comments that he made at a citizenship ceremony—I think it might have been in Melbourne—some time ago. So I do understand. I am not suggesting that there is a budgetary link. If there is going to be an announcement about an increase, that is great—that is welcome; I would love to hear about that.

The minister said they are not going to be teaching people how to pass the test. I accept that that is not the government’s intention of the English language classes that are provided to migrants. I accept at face value what the government says about the benefits of the programs for migrants. I support them; I think they are good. I want to see them expanded. So my concern is not that the government is saying that these programs should be about people passing the test. I am not making the claim that that is the government’s intention. Educators who appeared before the committee said that, when you have a test coming up at school, the classes before the test end up being oriented towards helping people to pass the test. I am not saying that that is the government’s intention, and I accept the minister’s answer that that is not the government’s plan, but does the government have a concern that that may occur? If that which educators have expressed to us is a concern to the government, what kinds of mechanisms might the government be able to put in place to ensure that those classes did not become just about teaching people how to pass the tests? I think we all agree that would not be the best use of that budgetary allocation. I am not questioning the government’s intention. It is more a question of whether the government is concerned that this may occur and what can be done to ensure that it does not occur.