Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] La fantastica comunita Italiana ha contribuito tantissimo al nostro stato e oggi voglio lottari per loro. What I just said is that the fantastic Italian community in South Australia has contributed enormously to our state and to Australia, and today I'm fighting for them. I am also fighting for everyone who believes in multiculturalism and in the importance of multiculturalism, linguistic diversity and ensuring that Australia becomes an even more important global player on the world stage. But we can only do this if we continue to have a population that is multilingual and multicultural. That's why I'm joining the Italian community and other concerned South Australians on calling on the Flinders University and the Morrison government to stop the cuts to languages, the arts and humanities subjects.

Flinders University is completely cutting its Italian studies program, which has been running for over 50 years in South Australia. However, we have to ask ourselves: what role do the higher education funding reforms introduced by the Morrison government play in this? Those decisions that were made, and the changes to humanity degrees, meant they have more than doubled in cost. This is clearly a strategy to deter students from studying humanities, including languages like the Italian language at Flinders University. Even the then education minister, the Hon. Dan Tehan, didn't bother hiding the fact when he confirmed during a speech at the National Press Club that the government was unashamedly trying to steer students away from the humanities.

The decision to cease offering Italian studies impacts a large section of the community and our economy. There are well over a million people of Italian background or who identify as Italian in Australia. Italy is one of Australia's major trading partners and a valuable source of foreign direct investment in Australia. Several Italian companies have established businesses and business operations in South Australia in growing high-tech sectors, such as the aerospatial industry and renewable energies.

It is imperative that Italian and languages in general continue to be taught in Australian universities, especially given our reliance on trade in a globalised world, which is maintained by our international relations. We stand to lose too much if programs like Italian studies continue to be cut through the Morrison government's changes to the humanities. I call on the Morrison government to ensure that languages are maintained. (Time expired)