“There is no doubt that an Asian-Australian foreign minister sends a clear message to the region about modern Australia,” said Wong, who was born in Sabah in 1968. Wong’s mother is a native Australian and her father is originally from Malaysia.

“And it exposes as nonsense the narratives promoted by others that portray Australia as intolerant and hostile – narratives that have sometimes resonated and can harm our interests in a disputed region.”

While not every foreign minister needs to be an Australian of Asian descent, the diversity of Australia’s leaders shapes the way the country is perceived around the world, she added.

It also helps build bridges with Australia’s regional neighbours in Asia, which is crucial to Australia’s political ambitions to engage with more than just traditional partners, she added.

During his speech, Wong announced changes to improve Asian language teaching through the New Colombo Plan., The institute supports undergraduate students in better understanding the Asia-Pacific region through in-country studies, language courses and internships.

To ensure that the New Colombo Plan effectively improves Australians’ Asian language skills, Wong said Canberra will remove the cap on long-term scholarships, create a new language-specific stream in the program and extend the duration of short-term mobility courses from two to four weeks.

Observers at home and abroad have long criticised the worrying decline in Australians’ knowledge and skills in Asian languages.

“These changes will not solve our literacy challenges in Asia on their own – they are just one piece of the puzzle, a step in the process and a signal to the education sector,” she said.

Wong said Australia would also increase teacher training for Asian languages ​​and work with universities to make Asian languages ​​more attractive to students.

04:23

Japanese Elvis impersonator shines at the annual Parkes Elvis Festival in Australia

Japanese Elvis impersonator shines at the annual Parkes Elvis Festival in Australia

The foreign minister said her current position reflected a promise she made to herself to bring about change, as she believed running for election was the only way to tackle discrimination. However, she said the path to becoming one of the few Asian-Australian MPs had been a daunting one.

“There were times when it seemed like the only other Asian faces I saw in Parliament House were the cleaners and a woman who worked in the library,” she said.

“And when you encountered others who were different, you expressed a knowing, unspoken recognition.”

She also acknowledged that there is pressure “not to make mistakes.”

“The consequence of my efforts not to make mistakes, however, was that I was often criticized as robotic, wooden and cold,” she said.

Speakers discussed the significance of Wong’s speech for the Asian Australian community.

Thomas Feng, a Chinese-Australian human rights and anti-racism activist, said it was “affirming” to hear Wong speak about the added pressures she faces as a woman of colour and the “daily reality” faced by many similar Australians.

“We should be working toward a future where it is normal and not special for non-white people to lead our country, our businesses and our communities,” he said.

It was also particularly significant that Australia’s most influential Asian-Australian woman spoke about her own trauma of racism, said Erin Wen Ai Chew, co-founder of the advocacy group Asian Australian Alliance.

Chew, whose family is also from Malaysia, said the current political climate in Australia, which portrays migrants, including international students and Gaza refugees, as a threat to Australian society, could pose a major obstacle to diversifying Australian leadership.

Wong himself even criticised recent messages to Peter Dutton, leader of the opposition and conservative coalition party, and his recent attempts to portray Gaza refugees as a risk to Australia’s national security.

Last week, Dutton called for a ban on visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza to prevent the possible admission of Hamas sympathisers, saying such arrivals could threaten national security. He was not opposed to issuing visas to those fleeing the war in Ukraine and had previously supported a special admission of white South African farmers.

Such messages came not only from Dutton but also from his predecessor, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, when he called for a reduction in Asian immigration, Wong said.

“This scaremongering is damaging to our community and is a missed opportunity for Australia to be more united and avoid the emergence of further conflict here,” she said.