Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I consider that to be a core function of the existing Department of Education and Training, which is tasked with working closely across the other arms of government—the Department of Social Services and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection—as well as, as we were just discussing, with state and territory governments. My department is tasked with focusing on developing English skills in the early years through preschools and early childhood education and we've supported a number of initiatives in that space. In schools, in relation to new migrants, as I canvassed, it is through the various migrant English programs that are supported. In relation to those who come to Australia to study, we want to ensure that there are high standards of support to develop their English skills before they commence those studies. So, in that sense, I would argue that we have a dedicated department focused very largely on English language skills as a core part of its functions, and that is certainly where we expect to drive— (Time expired)