By Angela Dorizas

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has welcomed the introduction of the national Indigenous languages policy and called on the Northern Territory Government to follow suit.

Announced by the Federal Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, and Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, the new policy is aimed at keeping Indigenous languages alive.

According to the National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005, of the 145 Indigenous languages still spoken in Australia, 110 are critically endangered.

The Federal Government has committed $9.3 million over the next year towards protecting threatened languages.

Commissioner Calma applauded the funding and the “clear message it sends about the need to protect this vital connection between Indigenous languages, culture and country”.

“Protecting Indigenous languages is about protecting our futures, our cultures and our lives for future generations,” he added.

Calma advised the NT Government to reconsider its stance on bilingual education.

“The Australian government formally endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in April this year and in doing so, agreed to Indigenous peoples having the right to establish and control our educational systems and institutions providing education in our own languages, in a manner appropriate to our cultural methods of teaching and learning,” Calma said.

“The Northern Territory Government’s decision to enforce four hours of English in all Northern Territory schools is bad policy and goes against the spirit of what the Australian government agreed to in April this year when it formally endorsed the Declaration.

“The Northern Territory Government’s policy erodes the potential for the continuation of our languages and cultures.”

The Federal Government’s policy announcement was also welcomed by senior Indigenous elders from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia.

“Kuwari nganana pukularinyi panya Governmentngku Ananguku wangkangu palyanmanu,” said Alison Milyika Carroll, a senior Pitjantjatjara woman from Ernabella on APY Lands and choir member of multi-lingual play Ngapartji Ngapartji.

Translated from her first language of Pitjantjatjara into English, Carroll said “we are very excited that the Government has implemented a policy with regard to indigenous languages.”

She said Indigenous people had experienced huge loss of language, but were now “thrilled that the Government is extending assistance to Indigenous people to research and revive their languages and be able to speak their native languages”.

Key objectives of the National Indigenous Languages Policy:

• Bring national attention to Indigenous languages.
• Encourage the use of critically endangered languages to maintain and extend their everyday use as much as possible.
• Ensure that in areas where Indigenous languages are being spoken fully and passed on, government recognises these languages when it interacts with Indigenous communities.
• Help restore the use of rarely spoken or unspoken Indigenous languages to the extent that the current language environment allows.
• Support the teaching and learning of Indigenous languages in Australian schools.