Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I thank the minister for confirming that there is no funding in this financial year for teacher education for Asian language programs in schools. I ask him: does the government agree with the Asia Education Foundation that $100 million a year for 10 years is what is required to reverse the decline in the study of Asian languages and to maximise the opportunities, given that there are fewer year 12 students studying Indonesian—or, there were in 2008—than there were in 1972?