Prime Minister Julia Gillard reacts to the “Asian Century”, by which she refers to the unstoppable” rise of Asia, “a transformation as profound as any that have defined Australia throughout our history”, and prepares to establish firmer connections between the two nations.
Ms Gillard has listed 25 goals she wishes to meet over the next 13 years, which includes offering scholarships to Asian students and requiring a proportion of all company directors and senior civil servants to have a sufficient knowledge of Asia. Additionally, school children will have the opportunity to learn one of the four prioritised languages: Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Indonesian.
This plan has been a long time in preparation, and Gillard hopes that in the near future all Australian schools will be partnered with schools in Asia. Furthermore broadcasting networks will be encouraged to offer more Asian television, in the hopes that “Children in kindergarten now will graduate from high school with a sound working knowledge of Asia.”
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