New parliamentary report charts a path to rebuilding Australia’s Asia capability

The Australian Academy of the Humanities welcomes the release of the House Standing Committee on Education and Employment’s report, Security and Prosperity in Asia: Building Australia’s Asia Capability.

The report recognises that Australia’s future security, prosperity and regional engagement depend on rebuilding deep national capability in Asian languages, cultures, histories and societies.

For more than a decade, the Academy has consistently argued that Australia’s Asia capability should be recognised as a sovereign national capability requiring long-term investment and coordinated national leadership. The Academy made a major contribution to the inquiry through its submission, supplementary papers and expert evidence from Emeritus Professor Joseph Lo Bianco AM FAHA, Professor Louise Edwards FAHA, Professor Greg Hainge FAHA and Professor Melissa Crouch FAHA. Drawing on the expertise of Fellows from across Australia, the Academy presented a comprehensive framework for rebuilding Australia’s Asia capability across education, research and government.

The Committee’s report reflects many of the Academy’s recommendations and draws extensively on the evidence presented throughout the inquiry.

Key Academy recommendations reflected in the report​

The Committee has reflected many of the Academy’s recommendations, including:

• Recognising Asia capability, including language, cultural and regional expertise, as a sovereign national capability requiring a whole-of-government approach across the Department of Education, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) and Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA).
• Recognising the detrimental impact of the Job-ready Graduates reforms on Australia’s sovereign cultural and language capabilities.
• Developing a 10-year National Asia Capability Strategy, supported by regular reporting to Parliament.
• Establishing a national data framework and dashboard to monitor Australia’s Asia capability across all education sectors, including language provision, research capability and workforce needs.
• Recognising Asia capability as a National Science and Research Priority.
• Strengthening the role of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) in monitoring and sustaining national capability, including through mission-based compacts to protect strategically important university expertise.
• Developing a Languages Passport, informed by successful international models, to recognise language proficiency and learning across education sectors.
• Introducing stronger school-to-university incentives, including consideration of ATAR bonus schemes for language study.
• Strengthening the role of Jobs and Skills Australia in embedding Asia capability within Australia’s national skills architecture.

The report also reflects the Academy’s evidence that rebuilding Australia’s Asia capability requires sustained investment across the entire education and research pipeline, from schools and community languages learning through to universities, advanced research and professional careers. It supports more flexible language pathways, greater opportunities for immersion, exchanges and international engagement, and recognises that artificial intelligence cannot substitute for deep cultural knowledge, language capability and specialist regional expertise. In doing so, the report reinforces the Academy’s distinction between broad Asia literacy and the deep expertise needed to support Australia’s long-term national interests.

The Academy looks forward to working with governments, universities and partners across Australia to support implementation of the report’s recommendations and help strengthen Australia’s long-term Asia capability.

Academy submission

• Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Building Asia Capability in Australia through the education system and beyond (November 2025) 
• Supplementary submission, Asia Capability, (March, 2026)
• Lo Bianco, J., The idea of a language passport: concept, origins, potential & limit.
• Edwards, L., Opening statement (18 March 2026).
• Lo Bianco, J., Bilingual schooling and language proficiency policy considerations for Australia.