https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/information-your-language?context=64107
We offer information in as many languages as we can and provide translation services for those who need it.
The person in the story speaks one of the most common languages in the country and would have had zero issue in understanding what was requested of them if they actually wanted to. Them claiming not to know is frankly utter bullshit.
I’m proud of being in a multicultural country, I understand it’s a concept foreign to most of the world who aren’t used to it. But it works well and we have an extremely high quality of life.