Confucius Institute

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:11): Further supplementary arising from the assistant minister's answers: she outlined her belief in the role that she would be filling as a parliamentary ambassador for the Confucius Institute. The assistant minister responded that there is no written job description. How then were the duties of the parliamentary ambassador determined, and who determined what those roles and duties would be?

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:12): The parliamentary ambassador is probably similar to a brand ambassador for the Confucius Institute. My role is not written in concrete in terms of formal duties and responsibilities. It is for me to go to events that are organised by schools, activities around promoting language studies, etc. Those have been the types of activities I have been engaged with or involved in thus far. I believe that also because I am currently the only member of parliament who is of Chinese heritage and who can speak the language fluently. Therefore, I have been asked to become more of a brand ambassador. Perhaps I shall now ask the University of Adelaide to consider changing the particular title if it upsets so many members of parliament on the other side and the honourable member who asked the question.