[lg policy] Australia; Language lessons a priority for an Abbott government

[Harold Schiffman]

Language lessons a priority for an Abbott government
Updated 11 May 2012, 9:55 AEST

Australia's opposition leader says a future government he leads will
revive foreign language lessons in schools.
Language lessons a priority for an Abbott government (Credit: ABC)

The proposal was contained in Tony Abbot's Address in Reply to the
government's Budget delivered on Tuesday night.
In his fifth budget, the Treasurer Wayne Swan said everything was on
track to deliver a modest surplus in the next 12 months through tax
reforms and making significant cuts in the public service.

In his reply, Mr Abbott set his sights on Labor's carbon tax, and its
promise to deliver the surplus.


Presenter: Girish Sawlani

Speaker: Tony Abbott; Australian Opposition leader; Wayne Swan,
Australian Treasurer; Joe Hockey, Australia Opposition's Treasury
spokesman

SAWLANI: It was a budget the governing Labor Party hopes will help
turn its political fortunes around amid record low numbers in the
opinion polls. On Tuesday night the Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan
announced a budget surplus of one-point-five-billion dollars. But the
government's quest to get there saw significant cuts to the public
service, especially in the defence department, which saw major
military projects scrapped or delayed. Almost three billion dollars in
savings over four years had also been made by deferring a promise to
double foreign aid by one year, a decision that's been condemned by
aid groups.

There were also significant tax reforms that targeted the rich, while
providing concessions to struggling small businesses. The overall
winners though were families who will soon receive extra payments to
help them meet rising costs. But the hours and days that followed the
budget saw both sides of politics trading blows over the numbers with
the opposition accusing the government of fudging them. And the
bickering continued in parliament over the government's decision to
increase its debt ceiling by 50 billion dollars to 300 billion, with
outstanding public debt currently at around 224 billion dollars.

HOCKEY: Treasurer if you don't need to increase the credit limit, why
are you doing so?

SWAN: The opposition likes to come in this House and to pretend that
the global financial crisis never happened, the global recession never
happened, to pretend that there weren't natural disasters in
Queensland and Victoria last year.

SAWLANI: On Thursday it was the opposition leader Tony Abbott's turn
to step into the economic limelight delivering his budget reply speech
in parliament, and he was on the attack right from the start labelling
the Treasurer's budget measures to reduce tax concessions for the rich
and increase taxes on mining firms as a class war. But it was Labor's
carbon and mining taxes that were his main targets and he's vowed to
abolish them if he won the next election?

ABBOTT: If the carbon tax won't hurt anyone, why is the government
topping up compensation in this budget? If the carbon tax won't hurt
anyone, why did the Prime Minister say six days before the last
election that there would be no carbon tax under the government she
led? If the carbon tax won't hurt anyone, why are Labor members of
parliament now frightened to go door knocking even in their heartland?

SAWLANI: He also ridiculed the government's projections that it'll
achieve a budget surplus next financial year.

ABBOTT: No one will know whether this Treasurer has actually delivered
his micro surplus until late next year. Is it any wonder that he seems
to be suffering from a bad case of surplus envy? If the federal budget
really was coming into surplus it stands to reason that the government
would have no further need to borrow. Why is it proposing to add a
further 50 billion dollars to the Commonwealth debt ceiling?

SAWLANI: But he gave few concrete details on his plans for the future
of Australia's economy, instead focussing on policy measures the
Liberals had already announced before, including cutting red tape,
improving the operations of public schools and hospitals, and changing
the welfare system to encourage more to get back to work. But there
was one new policy, one that's linked to Australia's future in the
Asian century. Mr Abbott lamented the decline in the study of foreign
languages, in particular Mandarin, Indonesian, Hindi and Japanese. He
says a Liberal national government will revive foreign language
learning.

ABBOTT: If Australians are to make their way in the world we cannot
rely on other people speaking our language. So starting in pre-school
every student should have an exposure to foreign languages. My
commitment tonight is to work urgently with the states to ensure that
at least 40 per cent of year 12 students are once more taking a
language other than English within a decade.

SAWLANI: It is however a policy that's long been championed by the
Labor government. No doubt the next few days and weeks will see the
two parties continue their bickering over each other's economic
policies. But the Gillard government was awarded a free kick with new
data showing a surprise fall in the unemployment rate, which now
stands at just four-point-nine per cent.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/language-lessons-a-priority-for-an-abbott-government/941908

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