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CANBERRA - Indigenous people have no hope of being part of mainstream Australian society unless they can speak English, Prime Minister John Howard said today.
Mr Howard today backed a proposal by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough to ensure indigenous children in remote communities learn English.
"He's absolutely right," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"Indigenous people have no hope of being part of the mainstream of this country unless they can speak the language of this country."
Mr Howard said the best way to ensure indigenous children became proficient in English was to send them to school.
"If you require them to go to school they'll have to learn English," he said.
The children of non-English speaking immigrants learnt English through their contact with the school system and so should indigenous children, Mr Howard said.
"In the case of indigenous people, none of them come to Australia as mature-aged people. They were all born in this country, in that sense they're different from migrants," he said.
"The children of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants are forced to learn English because they go to school. Equally, Aboriginal children should learn English because they should be required to go to school."
- AAP
