COMMITTEES
Ms ROBERTS (Pearce) (10:50): The incorporated speech read as follows— I would like to speak to the House Standing Committee on Education's report, Building Asia capability in Australia through the education system and beyond. I do so as a member of the parliamentary committee. This report goes to the heart of Australia's future prosperity, security and standing in the region.
The report makes a powerful and urgent case: Asia capability is not an optional extra, not a specialist interest and not something we can afford to leave to chance. It is a core national capability. It will help determine whether Australia is equipped to trade, to cooperate, to understand our neighbours and to compete successfully in a region that will shape our economic and strategic environment for decades to come.
For too long, Australia has known this in principle but has failed to act with the sustained seriousness the challenge demands. The report traces decades of inquiries, strategies and policy statements that have all recognised the same truth: our education system must play a central role in building knowledge of Asia, languages of Asia and meaningful engagement with the region.
Yet progress has been uneven, fragmented and too often dependent on individual schools, teachers, principals or communities rather than a coherent national effort. It is not enough to say that Asia matters or to place a reference to Asia in the curriculum and assume the job is done. If we want genuine capability, we need the structures, the leadership, the pathways and the incentives that allow young Australians to move from awareness to learning, from learning to fluency, and from fluency to opportunity.
The report shows that, for many students, the path into Asia capability is shaped more by luck than by design. A student might encounter an inspiring language teacher, a supportive principal, an exchange opportunity or an involved diaspora community. Another student, with equal interest and potential, may never be offered the same chance.
That is not a system built for national resilience; it is a system built on uneven access and inconsistent priorities. When opportunity depends on luck, the nation loses talent. When language provision is patchy, the country loses continuity.
When students cannot see a clear pathway from school into university and then into employment, they lose confidence in the value of study. And when employers do not consistently signal that Asia capability matters, the entire pipeline weakens. The report compellingly addresses how the education system must connect across the life course.
Asia capability should begin in the early years, continue through primary and secondary schooling, be strengthened in tertiary education and be recognised and rewarded in the workforce. If we lose any of those stages, the pipeline weakens. Early learning matters because children are open to language and difference.
Primary school matters because habits are formed and confidence either grows or fades. Secondary school matters because subject choice becomes sharper and pathways clearer. University matters because it should deepen expertise and create the teachers, public servants, researchers and business leaders of the future.
The workforce matters because if the labour market does not value these skills, students will question whether the effort is worth it. The report also exposes a serious data problem. At the national level, we simply do not have enough reliable, consistent information about how many students are learning languages, which languages they are studying, how long they remain in programs, or how pathways continue across the system.
Without data, decline can remain invisible until it is severe. That is why the report's call for a national data framework is so important: we need to know where gaps are, where strengths are and where investment will make a difference. Language is not a side issue in this discussion.
Language is the foundation of understanding. It allows people to build relationships, communicate nuance, develop trust and work across difference. It is one of the strongest indicators of whether Australia is serious about long-term engagement with the region.
The committee's concerns about the decline in Indonesian are especially serious. Indonesian is not peripheral to Australia; it is central to one of our most important regional relationships. It is connected to geography, trade, diplomacy, defence, education and people-to-people links.
When a language of that importance is at risk in our schools, we should respond with urgency. The report also notes the importance of other Asian languages, including those linked to South Asia and the growing diversity of Australia's engagement across the Indo-Pacific. Our approach must reflect the region as it is, not as it once was.
Australia needs capability in a range of languages and cultural contexts, and that capability must be responsive to demographic, economic and strategic change. The report recognises the contribution of community language schools and diaspora communities. For many families, language maintenance is part of identity and belonging.
These communities have often done extraordinary work with limited support. Their contribution deserves respect, recognition and stronger connection to mainstream education policy. Equity matters.
A child's access to language learning should not depend on whether they attend a well-resourced school or whether their family can pay for extra support. A national education system should offer real opportunity to all students, including those in outer suburbs, regional towns and remote communities. If Asia capability is a national priority, it must be built in a way that is fair and inclusive.
Students are more likely to commit to study when they can see where it leads. The report's focus on clear pathways matters. Students should be able to see a line from school language learning to university study, from university to exchanges or internships and from there into careers in government, education, business and the broader economy.
If those pathways are invisible, students will drift away even when they have real potential. The committee's recommendation for a 10-year national Asia capability strategy is a sensible and necessary step. We need long-term leadership, accountability and coordination.
A strategy of that kind would help align education policy with foreign affairs, trade, employment and economic development. It would send a message to schools and universities that this work matters, and it would encourage employers to build demand and reward the people who develop these skills. Annual reporting to parliament would be a critical part of that approach.
If we set national goals, we should measure progress against them publicly. That is how serious policy works: we move beyond warm statements into accountability, and we keep the issue on the agenda long enough to make a difference. This report also makes clear that the responsibility does not rest with schools alone.
Universities, employers, state and territory governments and the Commonwealth all have roles to play. If we ask schools to carry the entire burden, we will continue to get uneven outcomes. If universities do not support specialist study, if employers do not value the capability and if governments do not coordinate, students will receive mixed messages about whether these skills are important.
The costs of inaction are real. If we continue on the current path, we risk losing language programs, weakening teacher supply, narrowing student choice, and diminishing Australia's ability to engage with its region. We risk sending a message to young Australians that study of Asia is optional, uncertain or unrewarded.
That would be a profound mistake. Yet this report gives us hope. The problem is understood and the solutions are available.
We know stronger leadership matters. We know sustained investment matters. We know data matters.
We know clear pathways matter. We know education, when properly supported, can build the capabilities Australia needs. I commend the committee for its work and the seriousness with which it approached this inquiry.
This is not a report about abstract theory; it is a report about the kind of country we want to be. It asks whether we are prepared to make the choices that will strengthen our children's opportunities, our national capability and our place in the world. The answer must be yes.
Australia's future in the region is too important to leave to chance, and our education system 1s too important to leave disconnected from that future. We should act on this report with urgency, with purpose and with the long-term vision this issue requires.