Page 3599 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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The relationship between language and culture is also demonstrated in our own Indigenous community. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a deep spiritual connection to the land, and that closeness is further expressed through each group’s unique language and dialect. The passing down of oral history has long been an essential tenet of Indigenous culture and so many other cultures around the world.
Members of Canberra’s Indigenous community are actively working to revitalise the Indigenous language of the Ngunnawal people. The Ngaiyuriija Ngunnawal Language Group and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies are working cooperatively to develop a language program for school students and teachers. ABS statistics show that just over 10 per cent of the ACT’s Indigenous population aged 15 and over speak an Indigenous language, which is about half the national average. In contrast, around 70 per cent of the same group identify with a clan, tribal or language group.
The 2017 languages pathway plan in Canberra public schools allows for schools to offer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Currently, no public schools have any Indigenous language programs. The Canberra Liberals strongly encourage the ACT government to work with the Indigenous community to take advantage of the unique opportunity to teach Aboriginal languages in schools.
We see the reinforcement of cultural identity and growing linguistic variety in language statistics. Currently, over 170 different languages are spoken throughout the ACT. In 2011, 18 per cent of Canberrans, nearly 65,000 people, spoke a language other than English at home. The recent census reveals that that number has increased to 22 per cent, slowly closing in on a quarter of our population. There are around 11,000 people who speak Mandarin and Cantonese in the ACT; 3,800 Vietnamese speakers; 3,300 Italian speakers; and thousands more who speak Spanish, Greek, Arabic, Croatian, German, Bengali and many others.
The assortment of languages spoken in the territory is increasing every year. The fastest growing languages within Canberra are: Karen, Malayalam, Nepali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Teluga, Afrikaans, Dinka, Shona and Urdu. With each passing year, our society is growing more multilingual, providing an opportunity for the ACT government to support these ever-expanding communities.
While language binds us, it can also be an obstacle. Nearly two per cent of Canberrans do not speak English well. In my own electorate, the Gungahlin region reported 28 per cent of people having difficulty communicating in English, the highest proportion in the territory. The ACT language policy includes a specific policy aim:
That English language programs are readily available to Canberrans who wish to learn the English language.
The policy summarises it by saying:
Learning English is a key tool for empowering all Canberrans to fully participate in all aspects of community life.
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