Aborigines must learn English for viable lives (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Aborigines must learn English for viable lives

* Patricia Karvelas and George Megalogenis
* May 25, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21790693-601,00.html

ABORIGINAL children should be forced to learn English so they can escape
lives of poverty on remote and economically unviable communities.

As the Government moved to mark Sunday's 40th anniversary of the 1967
referendum that allowed Aborigines to be counted as citizens with a series
of measures and gestures, Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough told The
Australian that Aboriginal people should follow the example of Greek and
Italian migrants and become bilingual. He said this - coupled with a "basic
grasp" of mathematics and improved school attendance - would allow
Aboriginal children living in deprived communities to find work and
economic independence.

"Most of the children (in many communities) don't speak any semblance of
English," Mr Brough said. "So what chance have they got?"

As part of its push to improve conditions for Aborigines, the Howard
Government is also finalising a cabinet submission to quarantine indigenous
parents' welfare payments if they fail to ensure their children attend
school. And it is planning a series of Reconciliation Action Plans, which
have been drawn up by federal agencies ahead of the referendum anniversary.

John Howard's own department is leading a commonwealth campaign to recruit
indigenous people to the public service and to provide non-indigenous staff
with "cultural awarenesss" training to help advance the cause of
reconciliation. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has set a
target of recruiting up to two indigenous cadets each year, and has pledged
to offer three cultural awareness sessions.

The Department of Education, Science and Training, by comparison, wants to
remain in "the top two Australian government departments for employment of
indigenous Australians". And its cultural awareness training would involve
300 staff each year.

The head of PM&C, Peter Shergold, had asked all federal agencies to complete
Reconciliation Action Plans by May 27.

But some Aborigines remain unconvinced about the Government's commitment to
indigenous affairs.

Health Minister Tony Abbott was angrily booed at a Canberra ceremony
yesterday to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of the Bringing Them
Home report into the stolen generations. The chilly reception came despite
Mr Abbott coming armed with $8million over four years in new funding for
extra counselling services to indigenous people taken from their parents at
birth.

Mr Howard yesterday also faced a bitter attack from indigenous leader
Lowitja O'Donoghue, who said the Prime Minister either did not understand
or did not care about the stolen generations.

But in parliament, Mr Howard was unmoved over his refusal to apologise to
members of the stolen generations in the face of a Labor attempt to
reignite the "sorry" issue, which last had traction at the time of the
Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Indigenous campaigns of the past are likely to dominate the coming weekend,
with Sunday marking the 40th anniversary ofthe 1967 referendum at which
Australians voted overwhelmingly to allow the Government to make laws for
Aborigines and to have them counted as part of the national census.

Mr Brough told The Australian he was drawing up a cabinet proposal that
would require indigenous parents to ensure their children attended school
or risk losing welfare payments.

And he wanted to ensure that indigenous children, no matter how remote their
community, learnt English.

"They speak the language that in many cases only a handful of people do," Mr
Brough said. He said it was a "huge problem" in Wadeye, a disadvantaged
community about 380km southwest of Darwin.

"There are seven separate language groups amongst a population of just over
2000 and they can't understand each other's language well," he said. "We
should be forcing, imposing, requiring - whatever term you want to use -
school attendance and the basic grasp of English, mathematics, and the
spoken English."

Reading and writing were basic elements of a productive life and would help
indigenous children escape disadvantage.

Mr Brough said it was a "cop-out" for communities to refuse to learn English
because it was not an Aboriginal language, particularly when there were
several languages in each community.

"They don't have the chance to choose. They speak the language that in many
cases only a handful of people do," he said.

Mr Brough said he had no figures but made his conclusions after speaking to
grandparents in indigenous communities who lamented the fact that they had
better English language skills than their grandchildren.

The Bringing Them Home report into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander children from their families accused governments of
genocide and called for an apology and compensation.

Indigenous audience members at yesterday's Parliament House ceremony marking
the anniversary disrupted Mr Abbott's speech, demanding the Government "say
sorry".

Professor O'Donoghue, co-patron of the Stolen Generation Alliance and head
of the former indigenous administrative body ATSIC, lambasted Mr Howard's
attitude to the stolen generations.

Professor O'Donoghue said indigenous people were dying of despair, while
those in power looked the other way. "It is for this reason that I have no
expectation of an apology from our current Prime Minister," she said.

In question time, Mr Howard said he had not changed his view that modern-day
Australians should not be culpable for actions taken decades ago. He said
the best way to help indigenous people enjoy the bounty offered by life in
Australia was to absorb them into the mainstream.