Marziyah Razi arrived in Australia at age 17 with a basic understanding of English after spending three years in an Indonesian refugee camp where makeshift English and maths classes were her only education. Born in Afghanistan and raised in Iran, she was eager to resume high school. A decade later, Razi, now 28, has been admitted as a lawyer, calling it “a dream that came true.”
Hanson’s claim and the census data
Last month, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson used a nationally televised speech to target what she called a “growing language problem which is a function of immigration,” labeling it a risk to “social cohesion.” One Nation’s policies include tightening migration requirements by mandating English-speaking for new arrivals. Citing the 2021 census, Hanson noted that “one in four people, 23%, speak a language other than English at home, the most common being Mandarin and Arabic.” She asked, “How can you generate social cohesion if people can’t speak the language?” and pointed to 872,000 people who self-reported as speaking English “not well” or “not at all.”
Those 872,000 people represent just 3.4% of Australia’s population and include more than 100,000 babies and toddlers. In contrast, the 2021 census recorded 5.6 million people (about 22% of the population) who spoke a language other than English at home, while 72% spoke only English. The most common non-English languages were Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%), and Punjabi (0.9%). Australia also has 167 actively spoken First Nations languages.
Razi’s experience with English learning
For Razi, who speaks Farsi, Dari, and English, Hanson’s rhetoric undermines the contributions of migrants who “bring different skills, different values, whether they know English or not.” She said, “Not everyone has the opportunity to learn English in their countries. When they come here, they can learn English, just like myself, and they can contribute back to the community.” In 2015, Razi completed a six-month intensive English language course for recently arrived migrants in Melbourne before starting high school, which she says helped her understand Australian culture and gain confidence. “Learning English is not that difficult. It’s not like flying a jet or something,” she added. Without that opportunity, integration would have been difficult: “It was also helping me to navigate the system, you know, whether it’s the legal system, the education system, the culture. Those supports are really, really crucial and important for newcomers.”
Using law to help others
Razi has worked for a gambling harm prevention program for multicultural communities, using her language skills to assist non-English speaking clients. She says, “A lot of people may not be able to receive the support just because of the language barrier.” Now an Australian citizen since 2020, she hopes to use her law degree to be a “voice for the voiceless,” inspired by “seeing a lot of injustice in some other countries towards refugees and towards women.”
Expert views on language and cohesion
Prof Catherine Travis, a linguist at the Australian National University, says it’s “a total misconception to assume that allowing other languages to be spoken detracts from social cohesion.” She argues it could enhance it because “people feel better received in Australia. We know that people whose language and culture is acknowledged feel more committed to the society.” Dr Zareh Ghazarian, a lecturer in politics at Monash University, says One Nation’s policy to halt government-funded translation services would limit civic engagement, as translation services “can inform people of government decisions, rights, and responsibilities and empower them to be active and engaged citizens.” He highlights their role in providing important health information.
Community voices
Ramya Assaad, a Melbourne mother who migrated from Lebanon in 2007, used her Arabic skills during Covid to promote government support schemes at a non-profit. “I was building a bridge … I don’t believe that this has affected me or affected the community in any negative way,” she said. Ann Liao, a climate advocate and one of Australia’s more than 680,000 Mandarin speakers, speaks Mandarin to her parents, who are taking federally funded English classes. Her mother, who also speaks Russian, hopes to pass the citizenship test (conducted only in English) and vote in the next federal election. Liao says, “The big motivation for her [is] to be able to exercise her right as a person in a country that she now calls home.” While still learning English, her mother volunteers at a soup kitchen, using “her limited English to ask ‘How can she help?’” Liao notes that “some people will go with limited language skills, just their physical capacity, mainly just to lend a helping hand.”
