Entering the final week of campaigning ahead of the 3 May federal election, PM Anthony Albanese promised to invest $25 million in the support of Australia’s 600 community language schools.
In a statement released on Saturday, Albanese praised the country’s cultural diversity referencing that half of Australians were either born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
The Labor leader said the promised funding will help more than 90,000 students learn 84 languages at the dedicated schools.
“Community Language Schools strengthen our social inclusion by supporting young Australians – primarily from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds – to learn or maintain a language other than English.
“This program connects students to the languages of their parents, grandparents and broader communities,” the announcement read.
The pledge includes a dedicated $5 million investment towards a specialist Asian languages funding stream to support fluency in Asian languages through to Years 11 and 12 for students regardless of their background, targeting the languages spoken by Australia’s “largest trading partners and neighbours”.
“This will open further employment opportunities and career paths for students, and grow economic ties with our friends and neighbours across our region.”
The election promise follows a pledge made by the Opposition leader Peter Dutton last week committing to invest $4.5 million in establishing a Greek Cultural and Language Enrichment Centre in Oakleigh.
In an exclusive interview with Neos Kosmos, Dutton said that a Coalition government will match similar pledges Labor have made to Greek communities in Australia, totalling now almost $12m, if elected.
