I understand that the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) will soon consider the issue of Languages other than English (LOTE) under Phase Two of the development of the national curriculum, I commend the Rudd Government for recognising the importance of LOTE in the Australian education system and seeking to ensure national uniformity in all the key learning areas, including LOTE.

As a bilingual person myself, I support all young Australians being taught a language other than English as it will assist them to develop knowledge and appreciation of other people and cultures in our multicultural society and to develop a highly skilled workforce that will be competitive in a global economy.

I understand that ACARA’s development of a national languages curriculum will designate which are to be the languages of national importance.

Whilst there has been a focus on promoting Asian languages in recent decades by successive Federal Governments (in recognition of Australia’s place in the Asia Pacific Region), Australia has a long-standing link to Europe through both migration and current economic ties. For this reason, I believe there should be an even distribution of resources between Asian and European languages. I strongly urge the Federal Government to include Modern Greek as one of the priority European languages available in Australian schools.

I understand that previous Australian governments have deemed Modern Greek a “priority language” for learning and teaching purposes under the National Policy on Languages in 1987 and the Commonwealth Priority Languages Incentive Scheme in 1991.

As you know, Australia has a long established presence of approximately 600,000 Greek-speaking residents. The state of Victoria has a very significant Greek community and Melbourne is regarded as the world’s third largest Greek city outside Athens and Thessaloniki.

My electorate of the Northern Metropolitan Region has one of the largest concentrations of Greek-speaking persons in Melbourne.

Over many years I had members of my local Greek community express concern at the decline in .the number of Victorian schools offering Modern Greek. Whilst I support the provision of a diverse range of languages in schools, I also believe that the languages they offer should correspond or reflect to a large extent the predominant languages spoken in the relevant local community.

Victoria’s Greek community has one of the highest language retention rates across successive generations compared to other languages taught in Victoria, In addition, Greek is one of the top five languages spoken in Australian homes.

Further, there is a clear educational benefit to students who are not of Greek background to study the Greek language given that one third of English words are derived from Greek.

A large majority of English terminology used within the fields of science, medicine, technology, astronomy and geography are Greek words.

I am aware that the Greek Government itself has been a strong supporter of the teaching of the Greek language in the Greek Diaspora, including in Victoria, through the provision of funded teachers from Greece in both the public and private education system as well as scholarships.

This generous support and unparalleled contribution is estimated at approximately $9,000,000 annually Australia-wide and should be acknowledged in determining which languages may be identified as priority languages to be offered in future.It is for these reasons, I urge you to ensure that the Greek language continues to enjoy its status as a priority language in our national education system.

Jenny Mikakos MP, Member for Northern Metropolitan Region, Parliament of Victoria