Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion moved by the member for Lyons about the importance of the National Year of Reading and the importance of literacy as a goal for our children and for adults throughout this nation. I commend him on his appointment as an ambassador as part of this program and also join with the member for Flinders in acknowledging the excellent work that he has done on these very issues. In fact, I can recall his first speech on coming to this place in 1993 when he spoke of the issues that he faced as an adult in dealing with the question of becoming a proficient reader and being able to school himself. He stands in this place as someone who has triumphed over many difficulties and he can be a beacon of hope to those who in later years seek to establish literacy as a basis for their communication and to improve their lives.

The National Year of Reading itself is an excellent proposal. We know that it is important to get to kids young and we know that it is important to have the very basic skills of literacy to ensure that people can fully contribute to life in our community. We know that reading skills provide children with the opportunity to learn, to understand society and to be an active part of it. We know that if kids do not get that start it is that much harder for them in the years ahead.

In my electorate of Bruce, which covers the area around Dandenong, Mulgrave and parts of Springvale in metropolitan Melbourne as well as Glen Waverley and Wheelers Hill, we have a significant number of communities which have come to Australia recently and where English is often a second language or not a language that is spoken at all. We know that for those families it is incredibly important to ensure that their children get a good start in life. They often come from families very determined to make the most of the opportunities in this great country of ours. In the circumstances, all we can do to encourage literacy in that situation is incredibly important.

The Gillard government has provided some $1.3 million towards this campaign, which is going to be run through libraries in conjunction with state governments, community groups and commercial partners. It is all about ensuring that the entire community is part of this project. It is about working on the basics and giving people the opportunity to learn and encouraging reading at home in particular. There will be children's competitions, peer-to-peer book reviews, adult book clubs and workplace literacy programs as part of a very broad set of events. All of that provides, I think, excellent opportunities in ensuring that we improve literacy within the Australian community. I urge all Australians to get behind this program. I urge all Australians to ensure that this National Year of Reading becomes a basis for improving the statistics which are disappointing about the Australian community in general but which say quite clearly why there is so much that needs to be done.

See this speech in context