Kiosoglous, Mr J.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (15:16): Today I rise to pay tribute to one of South Australia's great community leaders, a man who has dedicated decades to serving our state in a range of fields, especially in promoting and preserving languages and culture. For 25 years Mr John Kiosoglous MBE has overseen the operation of South Australia's ethnic schools as the chair of the Ethnic Schools Board, and that is just one part of his long contribution to our state.

With John, his family, friends and other special guests present in the gallery, I am very pleased to highlight some of his many achievements and thank him for his service. It is fair to say that through his dedication to language education and our ethnic communities, John has been instrumental to the success of multiculturalism in South Australia. Multiculturalism is one of our state's great success stories. We are rightly proud of the way that many cultures that make up our state not just coexist but also interact.

I saw this firsthand recently at the Al Salam Festival, where South Australians from a range of ethnicities gathered to celebrate and learn more about Muslim culture. With Australia Day just behind us, we continue to reflect on who we are as a nation and how we envision our future. We are a nation with an ancient history, a proud Indigenous people and a rich and diverse multicultural population. The economic, cultural and social contribution of migrants, their children and grandchildren has shaped our state for the better. John Kiosoglous is an outstanding example of the way migrants and their children have enriched our state.

Born in Port Pirie of Greek heritage, John qualified as a lawyer, practising for more than 40 years, including three decades as a magistrate and a senior member of the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Alongside his dedication to the law, John has long held a strong passion for the preservation of languages and culture, no doubt inspired and enriched by his own experience as a descendant of Greek migrants.

One of John's most significant and proudest achievements has been supporting ethnic communities to keep their cultural traditions and languages alive in younger generations. John has helped to shape the language education in South Australia through his roles as inaugural chair of the South Australian Secondary School of Languages, a longstanding member of the Multicultural Education Committee, chair of the Nationally Addressed Languages Advisory Committee and, of course, as chair of the Ethnic Schools Board. The impact of this cannot be overestimated.

Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide, Professor Ghil'ad Zuckerman, says, 'Languages are essential building blocks of community, identity and authority'. Language is fundamental to cultural identity. Through a common language, values and traditions are shared and preserved. And, of course, understanding other languages and cultures will place our young people in a stronger position to succeed here and on the global stage. This is the driver behind our state's bilingual school initiative, which will see our first Chinese bilingual school begin lessons in 2017.

This government is proud to support our diverse communities to maintain their languages and culture through our ethnic schools. From the first German and Polish schools in the late 1800s to the newer schools catering for arrivals from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, our ethnic schools have driven language education in South Australia and promoted the wellbeing and sustenance of our ethnic communities. On week nights and weekends, students and teachers, many of whom are volunteers, gather in schools and halls across the state to learn languages. They are a hub—a place to come together to support each other, especially those newly arrived, and for young people to learn about their heritage.

In 1986, at the request of the then education minister (Hon. Lynn Arnold), John Kiosoglous chaired a review into the ethnic school system which led to the establishment of the Ethnic Schools Board as a ministerial advisory committee under then education minister Hon. Greg Crafter. John was appointed inaugural chairman in 1990 and it is an indication of his impact that he held this position for 25 years until the board concluded its term in July last year. Bringing together and regulating the existing schools, some of which were well established and others very new, and planning for future ones was a challenge but one that John and the board worked hard to achieve.

Under his leadership, the board has notched up many notable achievements, including the growth in both the number of languages taught (from 35 to 49) and the number of ethnic school authorities (from 80 to 95) and the introduction of funding agreements as well as regular graduation ceremonies to recognise the achievements of students and staff. John has also been instrumental in sustaining the rich cultural life and diversity of this state, and for that and all his many roles I thank him on behalf of this chamber.