“Out of the 25 million Australians who populate this great country ...130 people can speak Mandarin at a level good enough to do business, who aren't of Chinese background.”
What RMIT ABC Fact Check found
Mr Bowen's claim is an educated guess. It was first promulgated by two Australian academics. Daniel Kane, formerly the head of Chinese studies at Macquarie University, estimated the number with the help of other academics, including Jane Orton, director of Chinese teacher training at the University of Melbourne. Professor Kane and Dr Orton told Fact Check there was no formal or precise way of calculating how many people of non-Chinese background used Mandarin at a proficient level. But given ...
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
Chris Bowen (Opposition frontbencher) made this claim around 3 May 2019. RMIT ABC Fact Check (Australia) looked into it and published its finding on 24 June 2019, 52 days later. Its rating was “Educated guess”.
Chris Bowen has 3 checked claims in this archive. Fact-checking organisations rated 0 of them false or fake, 0 misleading or mixed and 1 true.
Where the claim appeared
Links recorded by RMIT ABC Fact Check. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by RMIT ABC Fact Check, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.