<p class="p1">17 September 2012, 1.32pm AEST</p>
<p class="p1"><b>Action needed to help preserve Indigenous languages</b></p><p class="p1">Language and Indigenous experts have welcomed a government report that recommends bilingual school education programs for Indigenous communities, saying it will benefit all Australians and help get some Indigenous languages off the endangered languages list.</p>

<p class="p1">The “<a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=/atsia/languages2/report.htm"><span class="s1"><b>Our Land Our Languages</b></span></a>” report follows a 12-month inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.</p>

<p class="p1">The Committee considered the role of Indigenous languages to strengthening aboriginal identity and culture, and the benefits of including Indigenous languages in early education.</p>
<p class="p1">“Estimates show that at the time of colonisation there was an estimated 250 Australian indigenous languages being used and today there are about 18 languages,” the report’s authors write.</p><p class="p1"></p>
<p class="p1">Access full article below: </p><div><a href="http://theconversation.edu.au/action-needed-to-help-preserve-indigenous-languages-9631">http://theconversation.edu.au/action-needed-to-help-preserve-indigenous-languages-9631</a></div>
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