Ngapartji Ngapartji release language policy paper (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008
From: Alex Kelly <alex at ngapartji.org>


PRESS RELEASE JULY 29th 2008.

Indigenous languages a key to delivering better health and education outcomes
for indigenous Australians

Since colonisation Australia has suffered the greatest & most rapid loss of
languages in the world. Today, only 145 of 300 indigenous languages are still
spoken in Australia, of these110 are critically endangered.

“Everyone needs to be able to understand and communicate with governments in
their own language as well as in English if education and health programs and
services are to be effective” said Alex Kelly, Creative Producer of Big hART’s
Ngapartji Ngapartji project.

Non-Indigenous educators, police, youth workers and medical workers are often
hampered by not being trained in local languages or culturally appropriate
modes of communication.

Successive governments have ignored indigenous cultural norms, knowledge and
governance structures. Despite the millions of dollars being spent it is clear
that the existing policies are not overcoming indigenous disadvantage at an
acceptable rate.

“Closing the communications gap will help win the fight to close the health and
education gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians” Kelly
continued.

 “The National Apology to the Stolen Generation was an important first step in a
long journey of healing that includes helping people revive and maintain
languages and culture.

“A national languages policy should be geared towards addressing the
displacement and loss of languages faced by Australia's indigenous people or
this is the next thing we will be apologising for.” Concluded Kelly.

Big hART’s Ngapartji Ngapartji is a long-term intergenerational language and
arts project based in the Central Desert.

The team is today launching a paper on the need for a concerted federal focus on
indigenous languages.

The four page paper is available as a PDF to download via the website
http://www.ngapartji.org/content/view/19/79/

For more information or a copy of the paper contact Alex Kelly, Creative
Producer 0422777590, alex at ngapartji.org
--

Alex Kelly

Creative Producer

Ngapartji Ngapartji

http://bighart.org

http://ngapartji.org