The Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge has been criticised for using Google Translate on important public health information on COVID-19.
The Department of Home Affairs has admitted that they use Google Translate service to translate menu and navigation tiles on the COVID19 in-language website.
Mr Tudge has been talking about the challenges people with limited English face, at the same time his own Department is using the notoriously unreliable Google translate service to translate vital public health information in a government-funded program to help non-English speakers.
This is latest in the string of embarrassing translation bungles. In a tweet posted on 28th July 2020 from the Federal Government Twitter account is supposed to tell Chinese speakers where to look for more details about the pandemic. Instead the text instead translated to: “Use your language supplied information.”
READ MORE: Minister Tudge grilled about multiculturalism, bad translations and usurping power from Mikakos
All Australians need access to accurate and clear public health information including the many culturally and linguistically diverse communities who have made Australia their home.
Labor has been raising concerns about COVID-19 communications with multicultural communities since March.
We want every communication barrier to be broken so the right information reaches all communities.
The Morrison Government needs to better support multicultural communities and engage with community leaders who represent emerging communities during this pandemic.