SBS announces expansion of live interpreting for federal election coverage

SBS is continuing to make the 2022 Federal Election more accessible for multicultural communities, announcing live interpretations of the upcoming Leaders Debates, hosted by Nine and the Seven Network, as well as two additional Ministerial Debates to be held at the National Press Club of Australia.

For the upcoming debates between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, SBS will be providing live interpretations in Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese.

The next debate will be taking place at 8.30pm AEST this Sunday 8 May and be broadcast live in English on Channel Nine and 9Now and streamed live across the websites of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, with streams in Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese available live and exclusively on SBS On Demand and Facebook.

SBS will also provide interpretations across these four languages for the final Leaders’ Debate hosted by Seven on Wednesday 11 May and broadcast on Channel Seven and 7plus.

SBS managing director, James Taylor says: “SBS is extremely pleased that it will again be providing live interpretations of the upcoming election debates. We are expanding the offer to now cover 4 key language communities and are so proud to be fulfilling our Charter in this way.  SBS is uniquely placed to ensure that audiences whose preferred language might not be English can engage fully with our democratic process.

“I would also like to thank Nine, Seven, the ABC, and the National Press Club for their willingness to make these feeds available so that SBS can serve these communities.”

In addition to the Leaders Debates, SBS will also be offering translated live streams of two Ministerial debates to be held at the National Press Club of Australia this coming week.

The first debate, dubbed the “2022 Treasury Debate” is between Josh Frydenberg and Dr Jim Chalmers, The Treasurer and Shadow Treasurer of Australia. Taking place 12.30pm AEST on Wednesday 4 May, the hour-long debate will be live streamed in Arabic and Mandarin on SBS On Demand.

This will be followed with the “2022 Defence Debate” the next day, Thursday 5 May. Taking place at 12.30pm AEST, the debate between Peter Dutton, the Minister for Defence, and Brendan O’Connor MP, the Shadow Minister for Defence will also be live streamed in Arabic and Mandarin on SBS On Demand.

Both debates will be broadcast live in English on the ABC.

The announcement comes after last month, when SBS provided live Arabic and Mandarin translations of the 2022 Sky News / The Courier-Mail People’s Forum, a debate between Morrison and Albanese.

SBS director of audio and language content, David Hua, says “As election day nears, communities are keen to hear from a range of candidates and have access to as much information as possible. Through offerings such as live interpreting the debates, the SBS Election Exchange events, and our impartial and balanced election coverage, our goal is to enable and empower communities to engage with the election and to make an informed decision when voting.”

The SBS Election Exchange is also well underway, with SBS’s language services heading into the community and hosting a series of events to speak with local candidates and members of the public in the lead up to the 2022 Federal Election.

Following successful events in Bankstown, Hobart, Launceston, Dandenong, and Broadmeadows, the final three events will take place this week in Wagga Wagga, Eastwood, and Ballarat.

SBS’s Federal Election initiatives build on the network’s ongoing commitment to multilingual audiences, including the recent launch of its locally produced TV news services in Arabic and Mandarin, multilingual login, and navigation on SBS On Demand, and the upcoming launch of the SBS World Watch TV channel on 23 May.

Leaders Debates:

Channel 9 Leaders Debate Sunday 8 May, 8.30pm AEST Broadcast live in English on Channel 9 and 9Now Streamed live in English on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age websites Streamed live in Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese on SBS On Demand

Seven Network Leaders Debate Wednesday 11 May, TBC Broadcast live in English on Channel 7 and 7plus Streamed live in Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese on SBS On Demand

National Press Club of Australia debates:

2022 Treasury Debate Wednesday 4 May, 12.30pm AEST Broadcast live in English on ABC Streamed live in Arabic and Mandarin on SBS On Demand

2022 Defence Debate Thursday 5 May, 12.30pm AEST Broadcast live in English on ABC Streamed live in Arabic and Mandarin on SBS On Demand

SBS Election Exchange 2022:

Wagga Wagga, NSW Thursday 5 May 10am-2pm at Wagga Marketplace Community Space, 87 Baylis Street SBS Malayalam, SBS Filipino, SBS Kurdish

Eastwood, NSW Saturday 7 May 10am-2pm at Eastwood Plaza, 152-160 Rowe Street SBS Mandarin, SBS Cantonese, SBS Korean, SBS Hindi, SBS Arabic24

Ballarat, VIC Saturday 7 May 9am-1pm at The Bridge Shopping Mall, Little Bridge Street SBS Mandarin, SBS Filipino