Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre, located in the beautiful town of Deniliquin in my duty seat of Farrer. Last week I stopped by to talk to David Crew and his team of Indigenous rangers and educators about the important work they do in preserving the connection to country in south-west New South Wales. During our conversation, David gifted me a series of five small books. Each read-aloud book will teach young children their Wamba Wamba language. The Wamba Wamba language is one of over 500 Indigenous languages spoken throughout Australia. Primarily, this one occurs in the south-west of New South Wales and north-west of Victoria, through the beautiful Murray region.

The Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre, in collaboration with the Aboriginal Languages Trust of New South Wales and the WCC Language Program, is working to revive the knowledge of the Wamba Wamba among the Indigenous people of the region. Based on research conducted by Dr Luise Hercus in the 1960s, Yarkuwa has set out to document, preserve and teach the entirely spoken language of the Wamba Wamba people. The proof of their success is best demonstrated by their Our Languages Our Way program, which has enabled local primary and secondary schools to weave language learning through their arts and culture programs, enabling children to learn their heritage and history in a fun and engaging way.

The Yarkuwa centre is a testament to the rich and vibrant culture that exists in the region and the opportunity for communities to work together for the preservation of language and culture. I was honoured to meet with the wonderful staff at the centre and I look forward to returning there someday soon.

There is change on the way. Only a few more sleeps till 1 July, and the people of Farrer, including the people from Deniliquin, are going to be recipients of a tax cut. Seventy-six thousand people who live in the seat of Farrer are going to be the beneficiaries of Labor's policy. Sixty-six thousand people will get a bigger tax cut than they would have got under those opposite, because Labor believes you need to earn more and keep more of what you earn.