The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has improved its online resources in languages other than English to make it easier for all communities to resolve financial disputes.
Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive Officer at AFCA, David Locke released the new resources which increased its translated resources from 14 languages to 20 (including English) last Friday (22 May), which was the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Mr Locke said almost one-third of AFCA’s staff had been born overseas and the resources included a series of videos featuring the Authority’s own people speaking their first language.
He said that since launching in November 2018, AFCA had received around 700 requests for an interpreter and had provided the service free of charge in more than 75 languages.
He said the five most frequently requested languages were Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Spanish, which were all included in the new resources.
He said the new resources were designed to help people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities understand how and when to make a complaint to AFCA.
“AFCA is committed to providing a service that is accessible to everyone, including those who come from culturally diverse communities, or who might be vulnerable or disadvantaged,” Mr Locke said.
“When it comes to resolving financial complaints, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities can face greater challenges, including exclusion, discrimination and lower English literacy rates.
“Our new resources help to overcome this by making it easier for Australians who do not speak English to become aware of and use our services,” Mr Locke said.
AFCA’s new language resources, and its older ones, can be accessed on its website at this PS News link.
