International Mother Language Day

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:14): I am really pleased to be able to advise the house and the community that tomorrow, 21 February, is International Mother Language Day. It is a day that has been observed every year since 2000—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Say it in Italian.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I won't do that. It has been put on every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, multilingualism and multiculturalism in the community here in Australia and around the world. It is a UN initiative that was proclaimed by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1999, and ever since it has been celebrated every year. It is celebrated because languages are very important and powerful tools and instruments in our community to preserve and develop our tangible and intangible heritage.

Moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue. This is an area where South Australia has a very important history and trajectory, something that we can be very proud of in terms of our position in the world. We are, I think, a model that many around the world should aspire to and reflect on.

Our strong multicultural success story has not been an accident: it has been something that successive governments of all persuasions have worked towards. People in communities and people in government have also made their contributions. The benefits of multilingualism go even further than the benefits of multiculturalism; they add to them. We know that about half the world's population is multilingual to some extent, but in the English-speaking world we have not been as successful in encouraging many people in our community to learn another language.

It is an issue in South Australia and it is an issue around the world, but where we are here in South Australia, or indeed anywhere around the world where there are significant migrant communities, maintenance of mother tongues is one of the ways we can ensure that our general population has a strong bilingual and multilingual component. Part of the way we do that is through our ethnic and community language schools and our Ethnic Schools Association of South Australia. I want to recognise Darryl Buchanan, all the staff and volunteers and all the volunteers in all the ethnic schools around South Australia.

I am really pleased that we have students and staff from the Punjabi School, the Bulgarian Sunday School and the Port Adelaide Greek School able to be part of our debate today through observance in the gallery. They are fine young men and women who are working hard to continue the cultural traditions of their heritage, to know the stories of their families and to claim the linguistic heritage that is their birthright, which is also an extraordinary asset for the people of South Australia.

These young men and women, and young men and women right around South Australia, whether it is on a Sunday morning, Saturday morning or after school, do their work in their ethnic schools and the community language schools. That is part of South Australia's future social infrastructure. I want to thank the young men and women who are here and right around South Australia for that contribution. My children will learn from children like you in the playgrounds at school in the years to come, and they will learn the stories of each other's heritage. That is something that is beautiful and enriches our state.

To the teachers in our ethnic and community language schools, most of whom around South Australia are volunteers: it is an extraordinary gift that you give our children, your children and our state. I also want to particularly and passionately thank you for that work. Multilingualism benefits children in many ways. The benefits of multilingualism include a better innate understanding of how language works. For children whose heritage might be from a non-English-speaking background but whose first language is English, an understanding of language will help them in their English communication as well as giving them the further benefits of multilingualism.

Being able to communicate in a community, being able to communicate with family and having the understanding of heritage are all important. One thing I really like is less mental decline in old age. That is a benefit of multilingualism, as are a more efficient and better developed executive control system in the brain, greater cognitive flexibility, improvements in learning abilities, more rational decision-making skills and a more perceptive understanding of the world. All the young people who are learning other languages and understanding their mother tongues have those things to look forward to.

Around South Australia we have good science in our ethnic schools. We had 20 ethnic schools teaching SACE subjects last year, up from 18 schools the year before. There were 94 students studying a SACE stage 2 language subject in 2019, up from 64, and 100 students enrolled in a SACE stage 1 language subject in 2019, up from 86.

Thank you to our ethnic schools for the work they do towards the broader South Australian message that learning a second language is great and that supporting mother-tongue learning is also a very important part of what we do.