COMMITTEES

Ms PENFOLD (Lyne) (10:40): This is a completely last minute decision to speak, but it is an important one. I welcome the report of the Standing Committee on Education, Security and Prosperity in Asia titled Building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. The reason that I've chosen to speak on this particular report is my own experience both as a university student and also in my professional career.

I was a European humanities student at school, and I studied French and German, but, for a couple of reasons, when I went to university I chose to study Korean language. There are two reasons for that. One is that I have a goddaughter who was adopted from Korea and my hope was that one day, if she ever wanted to go to Korea and learn about the country of her heritage, that I could go and that I could help her engage with the country.

Secondly, I had a lot of friends and colleagues at the time—I'm gen X, and I finished high school in 1989—who were studying Japanese. I had this sense, well before K-pop and K-dramas, that Korea was a country that Australia needed to deepen its relationship with. So I chose to study Korean language at the Australian National University.

I have to say that, despite the fact that some 30 years later my Korean is not much beyond being able to say 'maekju juseyo' to order a beer and 'ajumma, ppalli wa', come here I need a beer quickly, I still very much value the relationship and that experience that I had. Indeed, I had the opportunity through an Asian languages scholarship to actually go and study for a year at Sogang University where not only did I spend time learning Korean in a language school but I also had the opportunity to actually study with Koreans in the classroom.

This is the sort of experience that is critical and a key point of the report. Then in my own professional life, when I was the CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council, part of my job was spending time in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. I came to that job at quite a turbulent time in the industry—after Labor's ban on live cattle to Indonesia.

I was responsible to help bridge the divide between our countries, rebuild the trade and help our customers understand the animal welfare requirements that Australia was placing on Australian exporters through the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System. When you go and have those conversations business to business, people to people, it's not just about trade numbers.

It's actually about having a deeper understanding of the culture. One of the things I learnt with Korean is you can't directly translate from English to Korean if you don't understand the cultural context in which you are having to explain and get your point across. As I say, when we're engaging with Asia, it's far more than numbers on a trade balance sheet.

It means understanding languages, cultures, history and politics. It means building relationships and networks. Wherever possible, it means actually spending the time in the region.

I'm incredibly grateful now, as a member of parliament, to come to this place having that experience and that exposure—having studied Korean language at the ANU and having spent time in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The report describes this capability as a combination of cultural knowledge, language skills and professional networks that allow Australians to engage effectively with our region, and that resonates very strongly with me.

When you learn another country's language, you inevitably learn much more than words. You begin to understand how people think, how their history has shaped them, how their society works and how they see Australia and the world. That understanding became so practical to me and, as I say, to bring to my work here in the parliament.

Those experiences reinforced for me that successful engagement in Asia depends on relationships, trust and cultural understanding. You cannot build those things from Canberra, Wauchope, Taree or Tea Gardens. You have to spend time in country, to listen, to understand how business is done, and it's done quite differently.

I learnt that very clearly, particularly in my engagement with Vietnamese cattle importers, trying to explain the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, why Australia was implementing it, how decisions are made and what matters to the people that you're dealing with. As I say, in the live export industry, that meant working very directly with businesses, officials and communities across Southeast Asia.

It meant understanding not just commercial arrangements but also local expectations, cultural sensitivities and the importance of long-term relationships. That experience taught me that Australian businesses are at their strongest in Asia when we turn up, build trust and invest in understanding our partners. That's difficult to replicate in a classroom and impossible to replace with an app or an AI translation tool.

Indeed, the committee made precisely that point: technology can make translation easier, but it cannot substitute for the cultural understanding and human relationships that allow diplomats, businesses and governments to operate effectively. That is why I'm concerned by some of the figures contained in this report. In 2023, only 3.3 per cent of Australian year 12 students studied one of the previously designated priority Asian languages—Japanese, Chinese or Indonesian.

Australia ranked second last among 64 countries for the proportion of year 10 students learning a second language, and only 38 per cent of Australians speak two or more languages, compared with an OECD average of 68 per cent. The situation at university is no better. The report found Asian language enrolments are at a historic low.

Only around one per cent of domestic university students were studying an Asian language in 2023, while enrolments at the ANU have fallen substantially across all of the 16 languages it teaches. That certainly concerns me, as an alumni of Asian language study at ANU—an incredible program that ANU has invested in over many decades. There's a practical economic dimension to this.

Australia is a trading nation. Our farmers, miners and regional businesses produce some of the best products in the world, but future prosperity will increasingly depend on our ability not simply to sell into Asian markets but to understand those markets and build enduring relationships with them, which I've seen myself. A businessperson who understands the language, customs and commercial culture of Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia or Vietnam certainly has an advantage.

A diplomat or a Defence official who understands the history and perspectives of our neighbours is better equipped to represent Australia's interests. Indeed, on a recent trip to East Timor as part of the Australian Regional Leadership Initiative, I worked with some of our officials from the Australian embassy in East Timor who spoke some Tetum, and that made such a difference when we were up in remote villages and increased that engagement, which made the experience for me.

I think those other MPs and senators, who were on the delegation, got so much more out of the visit. A young Australian who's lived and studied in Asia comes home with knowledge, networks and experience that can benefit this country for decades. That's why I particularly support the report's emphasis on immersion and in-country experience.

The committee recommends continuing support for longer term, language focused study through the New Colombo Plan and considering opportunities for postgraduate students and researchers spending time in Asia. My own experience—I'll finish on this point—tells me that this is money well spent: giving young Australians the opportunity to learn the language and to go and practise it in-country, from just ordering the food to trying to attend a lecture learning about Korean political economy.

I tell you what—that was a hell of a class and one of the most difficult language-learning experiences of my life. But I learnt so much not only about Korea but also about the importance of this investment in young people for the future, for building our relationship with Asia. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ): I understand the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of their speech for incorporation into Hansard, in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.