Mr RIOLI - 1995-10-19
For many years, Royal Darwin Hospital has employed Mandarin- and Greek-speaking part-time interpreters. This policy is to be commended. Given that more than 50% of patients at RDH are Aboriginal, why does the hospital not employ, on its permanent staff, an appropriate number of properly-qualified Aboriginal interpreters?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in addition to the Greek and Chinese interpreters who are based at the hospital from 9 until 3 each day - and, by the way, the Chinese interpreter speaks Vietnamese also - from time to time, the hospital calls on translation and interpreting services from people who speak 34 other languages, who are available from the NT Interpreting Service during normal business hours. After hours, the hospital calls routinely on the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service. I am sure the member will be pleased to hear that there are, in addition, 3 Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers in the Social Work Department who work rostered shifts. They provide a support service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and their families, giving advice on hospital routines and procedures. Also, they interpret for Aboriginal patients. However, it is logical that, if there are 30 Aboriginal languages and only 3 Aboriginal liaison workers, it is unlikely that they will be able to speak all possible languages. That is the obvious difficulty. What is happening now at Batchelor College ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service had a larger number of Aboriginal language interpreters ready and available, they could be accessed. However, the problem is clearly the difficulty in obtaining qualified and trained interpreters of Aboriginal languages.
I understand that Batchelor College is establishing a course to train Aboriginal language interpreters in order to augment the pool of Aboriginal language interpreters available, not only at hospitals but everywhere.
Mr Ede: Yes, but there are no jobs. Where are the jobs in the public service for interpreters?
Mr FINCH: The 3 liaison officers can interpret for Aboriginal people to a limited extent. They can access others in the community or, if interpreters are available from the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service, they can be obtained from that service. It is not a problem.
Mr Ede: You know that it is woefully inadequate.
Mr FINCH: What do you want - to employ 30 trained Aboriginal interpreters who simply are not available?
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr FINCH: They are not available. That is the problem, and you know it. They are available in limited numbers only, for the courts and other places. It is a nonsense.
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Page 930
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in addition to the Greek and Chinese interpreters who are based at the hospital from 9 until 3 each day - and, by the way, the Chinese interpreter speaks Vietnamese also - from time to time, the hospital calls on translation and interpreting services from people who speak 34 other languages, who are available from the NT Interpreting Service during normal business hours. After hours, the hospital calls routinely on the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service. I am sure the member will be pleased to hear that there are, in addition, 3 Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers in the Social Work Department who work rostered shifts. They provide a support service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and their families, giving advice on hospital routines and procedures. Also, they interpret for Aboriginal patients. However, it is logical that, if there are 30 Aboriginal languages and only 3 Aboriginal liaison workers, it is unlikely that they will be able to speak all possible languages. That is the obvious difficulty. What is happening now at Batchelor College ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service had a larger number of Aboriginal language interpreters ready and available, they could be accessed. However, the problem is clearly the difficulty in obtaining qualified and trained interpreters of Aboriginal languages.
I understand that Batchelor College is establishing a course to train Aboriginal language interpreters in order to augment the pool of Aboriginal language interpreters available, not only at hospitals but everywhere.
Mr Ede: Yes, but there are no jobs. Where are the jobs in the public service for interpreters?
Mr FINCH: The 3 liaison officers can interpret for Aboriginal people to a limited extent. They can access others in the community or, if interpreters are available from the Commonwealth Translating and Interpreting Service, they can be obtained from that service. It is not a problem.
Mr Ede: You know that it is woefully inadequate.
Mr FINCH: What do you want - to employ 30 trained Aboriginal interpreters who simply are not available?
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr FINCH: They are not available. That is the problem, and you know it. They are available in limited numbers only, for the courts and other places. It is a nonsense.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016