Page 3602 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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I was honoured to attend the mother language walk earlier this year and reflect on the importance of mother languages and also pay tribute to the proud speakers of Bangla who lost their lives in defence of their right to use and preserve their language. Like the Leader of the Opposition, I acknowledge the members of the community who are here today. As the Leader of the Opposition has outlined, the events of 21 February 1952 and the sacrifice made by six protesters are the inspiration behind the modern-day International Mother Language Movement.
Canberra is a vibrant, multilingual city. One in five Canberrans speak a language other than English at home. Our diversity of language has become part of the development of our community as a whole. Many languages are on offer to be learned and used by Canberrans who are interested in them, as well as those who are historically and culturally connected to them.
A range of languages and cultures serve to widen our daily experiences and thinking, increasing our knowledge and cultural engagement. It is in this context that the ACT government, through the Community Services Directorate, is in the process of extensive community consultation to review and update Many Voices, the ACT languages policy. Once completed, this revised policy will take our city forward into the next decade, feeding into the frameworks and strategies that govern our approach to cultural diversity and augmenting what is also being done in other jurisdictions across the nation.
Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage, and we as a government, and indeed as a community, know this and work in many ways to ensure the diversity of languages is maintained and enhanced. I would like to turn my attention to some of the ways in which we do this. The ACT government provides a range of grants to promote and provide access to multilingualism through, for example, locally produced radio programs and the funding and support of organisations such as the ACT Community Languages School Association.
The association is the peak community organisation for community-based language schools in the ACT and currently has a membership of 50 language schools, with four language-based playgroups, 360 teachers and 2½ thousand students learning 36 different languages. We are proud to support the association with recurrent funding of more $170,000 each year to ensure that children across the ACT can learn the languages of their cultural heritage and indeed other languages which intrigue them. I was pleased recently to support an increase in funding for the association and I was sorry to miss their annual dinner last weekend. But I understand that Ms Orr, who represented the government, greatly enjoyed the occasion.
Of particular note, a priority area for the ACT government is the preservation and promotion of the myriad Indigenous languages spoken by members of our community. The theme of this year’s NAIDOC Week was “Our languages matter”, which aimed to increase, emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking people to their land and water, and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, spirituality and rights through story and song.
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