Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) in 1999, the 30th General Conference of UNESCO proclaimed annual observance of International Mother Language Day (IMLD) on 21 February; and

     (b) about 200 different languages are spoken throughout Australia;

(2) acknowledges:

(a) the significance of preserving Indigenous languages as a link to Indigenous culture and histories and as an expression of identity;

(b) the social, cultural and economic benefits of multilingualism to the Australian community; and

     (c) that encouraging Australians to learn a language other than English should be a priority for all levels of government; and

(3) calls on the Government to observe IMLD on 21 February across Australia and to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by the people around the world through:

(a) promoting the active participation, revitalisation and maintenance of local Indigenous languages;

(b) continuing the National Library of Australia's collection of oral history and available alphabets of spoken languages as a means of preserving the multi-lingual inheritance of the people of Australia; and

(c) supporting second language instruction in Australian educational institutions.

The 21st of February is United Nations International Mother Language Day. On this day, UNESCO and the United Nations agencies participate in events that promote linguistic and cultural diversity. In Spain, the Linguapax Institute, an organisation devoted to preserving and promoting linguistic diversity, award their prestigious linguistic prize on this day.

In particular, in Bangladesh it's a public holiday known as Shaheed Day, where locals celebrate Bangladesh's culture and the Bengali language. They commemorate the service and the life of four students who were killed on 21 February in 1952 while fighting for the right to use their mother language, Bengali. In Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, a monument to these martyrs, known as the Shaheed Minar, stands as testament to their sacrifice for the maintenance of their mother language. I welcome members of the Australian Bangladeshi community to the parliament today for this important motion regarding International Mother Language Day, and I wish all in the Australian Bangladeshi community a happy Shaheed Day on 21 February. I'm very blessed to represent a community that has a very active and passionate Bangladeshi community, and it is something that I'm very, very proud of.

Internationally, 6,000 languages exist throughout the world, according to the United Nations, but 43 per cent, almost half of those, are endangered languages. We know that in our own country, where we have the oldest continuing culture in the world in our Indigenous Australians, many of the original Indigenous languages have, unfortunately, disappeared. We are home to the oldest culture in the world, and that culture has spawned a rich history of a multitude of languages spoken for tens of thousands of years. It's important that this parliament acknowledges the significance of preserving Indigenous language as a link to Indigenous culture and history and as an expression of identity.

It's also important that we recognise the social, cultural and economic benefit to multiculturalism of Indigenous language, and promote multilingualism in Australia—because that hasn't always been the case. In La Perouse, in the community I represent, I've been told by elders that, when they were at school at La Perouse Public School, they were actively discouraged from speaking their mother language, the native language of the Bidjigal people, and received a rap over the knuckles if they did. As a consequence, there are hardly any people left in that community who speak that native language so rich to Australia's history. We must do more to preserve our mother languages.

We also must do more to encourage Australians whose mother language is English to learn a second language, particularly through our schooling system. Many other nations in our area, the Asia Pacific, do promote bilingualism and multilingualism, and we can do more to promote learning another language in our educational institutions. When we learn another language, not only do we learn the words, the vowels, the nouns, the sounds and the grammar but we learn about a people, we learn about their connection to their land and we learn about their history and their culture and the things that are important to them.

I wish to congratulate all of those involved in promoting International Mother Language Day here in Australia, and I call on Australian governments to do more in public institutions, particularly public libraries, to set aside areas to ensure that people can research and educate themselves about mother languages. I wish to pay tribute to Nirmal Paul, the chair of the Mother Languages Conservation Movement in Australia, who is with us here today, and to my good friend Azad Alan, who came to see me some weeks ago about this important issue. I want to thank them for educating me about the importance of this day and mother languages. I commend this resolution to the House and wish everyone a happy International Mother Language Day.

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