[lg policy] chapter:

[Harold Schiffman]

3
Indigenous languages policy
3.1
At the Commonwealth Government level, a National Indigenous Languages
Policy has been in place since 2009, following the announcement of
Indigenous Languages – A National Approach.1 The Office for the Arts
(OFTA) is the lead agency for the implementation of the policy, and
funds language-related activities through its Indigenous Languages
Support (ILS) program.
3.2
The states and territories have developed policies relating to
Indigenous languages that are, in general, related mainly to their
respective education policies.
3.3
While Indigenous languages policy is an integral issue in education,
as Dr William Fogarty told the Committee, it is also fundamental ‘for
Indigenous identity, cultural reproduction and the aspirations for
Indigenous economic and social development’. 2
3.4
This chapter begins by examining the historical policy context before
discussing the national Indigenous languages policy and the role of
the states and territories. It then examines the sources of funding
that are available to support a range of activities that are being
undertaken to maintain and revive Indigenous languages. The chapter
also discusses the constitutional recognition of Indigenous languages,
and the relationship between languages policy and international human
rights instruments.

1 Office for the Arts, ‘Indigenous Languages – A National Approach
2009’ <www.arts.gov.au/indigenous/languages>, accessed 3 July 2012.
2 W Fogarty, Committee Hansard, Canberra, 3 November 2011, p. 1.
46 OUR LAND OUR LANGUAGES

Australian Indigenous language policies
3.5
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, strong in the sense of being spoken by significant
numbers of people across all age groups.3
3.6
Government policies of the past have been, in part, responsible for
the decline of Indigenous languages. For example, the Committee heard
evidence in Adelaide that the government actively repressed the use of
Indigenous languages by Aboriginal people. Dr Alitya Rigney said that
when she was ‘growing up on Point Pearce, it was forbidden to speak
language by law.’4
3.7
Similarly, Mrs Verna Koolmatrie recalled not being able to be immersed
in her traditional language when she was growing up. Mrs Koolmatrie
said that:
I did not have that privilege and neither did the Ngarrindjeri people
in general. If you are on the community, which was called a mission at
the time, it was supposed to not be spoken at all. So, yes, I am one
of the people who missed out.5
3.8
Limited recognition of Indigenous languages occurred in the 1960s via
the development of bilingual education programs in some Northern
Territory community schools (where English was not the first
language). The implementation of a bilingual education program in the
Northern Territory has received varying levels of Northern Territory
Government support through to the present day.
3.9
The first Commonwealth policy to significantly address Indigenous
languages was the National Policy on Languages of 1987.6 The main
objective of the policy was to outline the nation’s ‘choices about
language issues’ in the context of Australia’s emergent
multiculturalism. The policy covered all language-related activities
in Australia, including policy specific to Indigenous languages. It
recommended the development of the National Aboriginal Languages
Project (NALP) to fund Indigenous language education programs and
projects. The main outcome of this policy was the provision of funding
to community based Indigenous language programs.

More at: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl4rw8mbn4

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