PRESS RELEASE: Australian Citizens Party policy announcement: Bringing back Asian languages education to Australian schools

The Australian Citizens Party (ACP) has announced an Asian Language Education in Australian Classrooms policy to address rapidly declining rates of Asian literacy of young Australians.
ACP demands the reintroduction of federal funding of Asian language classes across Australian schools, based on the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) scheme established under the Keating government in 1995 and scrapped by the Howard government in 2002.
Says Robert Barwick, ACP Senate candidate for Victoria, “Cancelling this important commonwealth funded educational program after just seven years was incredibly short-sighted and based on the outdated belief that Australia should remain deeply rooted in our colonial past.”
NALSAS federal funding was directed towards primary and high schools to teach core Asian languages, identifying four priority languages: Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Bahasa Indonesian and Korean.
The Citizens Party will expand the four core languages to initially include Hindi, then bringing other Asian languages online to reflect Australia’s important ties with south Asia and southeast Asia.
$50 million per year, divided across all states and territories, will be spent on Asian Language Education in Australian Classrooms, bringing funding in line with the budget allocation of the original program.
The policy would also work directly with the wide network of community organisations that presently deliver languages education across our communities out of school hours, to identify ways in which (1) the national schools-based program can be complemented at a community level, and (2) appropriate levels of government funding support can be provided to ensure community-based languages education can be developed in a sustainable way.
Says Mr Barwick, “NALSAS was a success and there was no justification for its axing. In its first three years the number of schools offering Asian language classes increased by 44 percent and students studying the four core languages jumped by 60 percent. Since then, we’ve had two lost decades robbing Australia of both cultural and economic opportunities.”
In 2011, then federal Liberal Party deputy, Julie Bishop proposed the teaching of Asian languages to be compulsory in all Australian schools, but was ignored.
The Liberal Party’s 2025 election manifesto of “Let’s get Australia Back on Track” outlines its 12 key priorities should it win office—education is not listed as a priority.
Says Mr Barwick, “The fact that education, let alone education about our nearest neighbours and biggest trading partners, does not rate a mention says everything about Australia’s alternate government.
“The Liberal Party’s key election document has no answer as to how Australia will navigate its way through the Asian century. There is just one reference to Asia and that is couched in terms of partnering with other countries to counter the rise of China.”
“Labor offers no solutions either, instead pouring hundreds of billions dollars into defence and AUKUS nuclear submarines that may never arrive.”
The Citizens Party plan for $50 million in annual funding for Asian Language Education in Australian Classrooms represents less than eight hours of Australia’s spending on Defence.
Australia has for decades pursued transactional relationships with our Asian neighbours, based mainly on trade agreements and security cooperation. According to Mr Barwick, “This is no way to build meaningful long-term relationships, even though they have different mother languages and cultures, all Asian people have a deep understanding of each other that begins in the classroom.
“More than half of Asia’s population speaks more than one language and 460 million people in Asia speak English. Our plan for Asian Language Education in Australian Classrooms will make sure Australia is not left behind.”
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FURTHER INFORMATION
Robert Barwick (Australian Citizens Party) – 0409 014 265