Anthony Albanese pledges $25 million for multilingual schools to boost social inclusion, Asian language ties
School students from diverse backgrounds could receive more support to learn or maintain the language of their ancestors as the prime minister vies for votes in multicultural communities.
With a week until polling day, Anthony Albanese has promised to spend $25 million on 600 community schools if Labor is re-elected at the May 3 poll.
These institutions help more than 90,000 students learn 84 languages and, in a diverse country where half of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was, Mr Albanese says keeping community language schools open will help bolster social inclusion.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“We live in the greatest country in the world and that is due to the people and their cultures from all nations on earth who call Australia home,” he said.
“Our diversity is our nation’s strength.”
Labor will also earmark $5 million to fund Asian language learning and help students of any background become more fluent.
This could help the country form more economic ties with Asia as tariffs imposed by the US test Australia’s ties with its long-term ally.
The Prime Minister is expected to visit voters in Victoria on Saturday as the campaign enters its final week.
Hundreds of thousands of Australians have cast their votes through the mail or at early voting centres.
While polls are generally tipping in Labor’s favour, Mr Albanese has been careful not to get too confident.
Earlier in the week, he pointed to the lessons learned during Labor’s losing 2019 campaign, when it was tipped to win only for the coalition to claim an upset victory.
