Portfolio — 27 June 2026

Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill announced new Community Language Schools funding on 26 June, extending a $25.6 million, four-year investment that targets more than 90,000 students across more than 80 languages from 2025–26 [TA-260626-home-802e6c98cf01]. The immediate announcement concerns the Extension Round of the Community Language Schools Grants Program, which directs more than $1.47 million to 85 schools that have not previously received government funding [TA-260626-home-802e6c98cf01].

Those funds cover program delivery, professional development, teacher training, and new online teaching materials — operational costs that give smaller and newer community schools genuine capacity to function. Named recipients include the Turkish Australian Culture House Inc in Western Australia and Pythagoras Greek School Limited in Victoria, signalling geographic and cultural breadth in the grant round.

The announcement sits alongside a May commitment of $2.5 million for the Community Language Schools Fluency in Asian Languages program, which focuses on years 11 and 12 students pursuing fluency in Asian languages [TA-260626-home-802e6c98cf01]. Together, the two rounds form the near-term delivery mechanism for the broader $25.6 million package. Minister for Multicultural Affairs Dr Anne Aly framed the rationale in terms of international engagement: "Language is power.

It helps us understand each other, it helps us understand the world, and it helps Australia engage with the countries and communities around us." Assistant Minister Hill emphasised the intergenerational dimension, describing community language schools as vital to young Australians staying connected to heritage and celebrating cultural identity [TA-260626-home-802e6c98cf01].

The messaging pairs a civic-competitiveness argument — languages as national strategic assets — with a cultural-identity argument centred on diaspora communities. No parliamentary activity was recorded for this date; the record consists of the ministerial media release only.