Aboriginal kids must learn English says government

This made me furious it really did, ok so to be able to cope in today’s society you should speak some semblance of the language of the country that you live in.
If you live in China you should be able to speak Chinese or Russia or France where ever, you can’t get a job ask where the toilet is if people can’t understand you.
The thing is we live in Australia, John Howard the prime minister lives in Australia he should be able to speak at least one Aboriginal dialect after all English is not the language of the people who live here, who lived here for thousands of years before the white man, many different languages are one of which is the Koorii language
Now Mr.Broughs argument is that not many people speak an Aboriginal language so the Aboriginals should speak English, well I say this if all the schools across the country taught at least one aboriginal dialect, the language of the people of Australia then everyone would know it and be fluent and Australia would be a truly multilingual society.
There are different versions of Indian languages; different Chinese languages even some parts of England people speak a totally different language
They don’t force the indigenous people of India to speak English not anymore, they can learn it if they want but they learn their own language as well, everyone in the whole county does, the people of India are truly multilingual.
New Zealand has programmes set up for the schools to teach the Mauri language and culture, they are teaching their children how to embrace the indigenous culture
Australia isn’t a 3rd word country why then is the government basically taking a step backwards in time? We should be embracing the culture not destroying it. These children in the outback aborigional communities aren't even learning thier own culture because of cut-backs and the government wants to force them to learn english its just so very wrong.

Now I will say this if you come here from another country you should be able to speak the language, myself as an immigrant to this country many years ago I had to learn to speak "aussie" and that does include many Aborigional words and words that only aussies use like coorong, kangaroo, woolongong, ice-block, lollies, mince and thongs. You should learn the language of the country that you live in and here it happens to be mainly English...well kind of.

Aboriginal kids must learn English
May 25, 2007 10:20am
Article from: News.com.au

Indigenous people 'must speak English'
School non-attendance punished by welfare cuts

INDIGENOUS people had no hope of being part of mainstream Australian society unless they could speak English, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Mr Howard backed a proposal by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough to ensure indigenous children in remote communities learned English, and said the best way to ensure they became proficient in the language was to send them to school.
Mr Brough is drawing up a Cabinet proposal that would require indigenous parents to ensure their children attended school or risk losing welfare payments.
He said today there was a lot of support from Aboriginal communities for the plan.
Mr Howard said: "Indigenous people have no hope of being part of the mainstream of this country unless they can speak the language of this country.
"If you require them to go to school they'll have to learn English."
The children of non-English speaking immigrants learnt English through their contact with the school system and so should indigenous children, Mr Howard said.
"In the case of indigenous people, none of them come to Australia as mature-aged people. They were all born in this country, in that sense they're different from migrants," he said.
"The children of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants are forced to learn English because they go to school. Equally, Aboriginal children should learn English because they should be required to go to school."

Mr Brough told today's The Australian newspaper that Aboriginal people should follow the example of Greek and Italian migrants and become bilingual.
He said this - coupled with a "basic grasp" of mathematics and improved school attendance - would allow Aboriginal children living in deprived communities to find work and economic independence.
"Most of the children (in many communities) don't speak any semblance of English," Mr Brough said.
"So what chance have they got?"
"They speak the language that in many cases only a handful of people do," Mr Brough said.

Mr Brough's proposal was met with amazement by NSW's first Aboriginal MP, Linda Burney.
"I think that he needs to understand that culture and country is incredibly important to Aboriginal people and they will be protected at all costs," she said on ABC radio.
"Aboriginal kids do need to be bilingual but it's a bit rich coming from a person who actually is part of a government that took away funding for bilingual programs in the Northern Territory."