<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
Thanks Ruth,<div><br></div><div>I started reading some of the comments but they were horrific and had to stop.</div><div><br></div><div>If anyone's interested, here's the extract from the UN report about language:</div><div><br></div><div><p align="justify" style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 75.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 16.0px"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Times New Roman">21. The Committee welcomes the new national approach to preserve Indigenous languages but is concerned that no additional financial resources have been committed by the State party nor received by the Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records program for this new approach. The Committee is also highly concerned by the recent abolition of bilingual education funding by the Northern Territory Government in light of the precarious condition of many Indigenous languages, and the lack of adequate opportunities for children to receive instruction in or of their language (art. 2, 5).</font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 75.0px; text-indent: -75.0px; line-height: 16.0px"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="font: 13.0px Times New Roman"><b> The Committee encourages the State party to allocate adequate resources for the new national approach to preserve Indigenous languages. It recommends that the State party, in consultation with Indigenous communities, hold a national inquiry into the issue of bilingual education for Indigenous peoples. The Committee also recommends that the State party adopt all necessary measures to preserve native languages and develop and carry out programmes to revitalize indigenous languages and bilingual and intercultural education for Indigenous peoples respecting cultural identity and history. In line with the<i> </i>UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, to which Australia is a party, the Committee encourages the State party to consider providing adequate opportunities for national minorities to the use and teaching of their own language. </b></font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 8.0px 75.0px; text-indent: -75.0px; line-height: 16.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;"><b><br></b></span></font></p><div><div>Seems like there certainly is a long way to go for Australia to admit there is a racism problem and then to actually combat it!</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Greg.</div><div><br></div><div>On 31/08/2010, at 9:03 AM, Ruth Singer wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Anyone want to write a letter?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination finds</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Australia is not doing enough to resource the preservation of</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Aboriginal languages.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/can-do-better-the-un-verdict-yet-again-on-discrimination-in-the-land-of-the-fair-go-20100829-13xnz.html">http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/can-do-better-the-un-verdict-yet-again-on-discrimination-in-the-land-of-the-fair-go-20100829-13xnz.html</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">(see last paragraph)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ruth Singer</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">La Trobe University / University of Melbourne</div> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>