The Kilmore Bill narrowly passed with 33 for and 27 against. The Bill calls for compulsory Asian language education from Prep to Year 10.

Kilmore proposed all students to study Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese. Mitch Wood from the refuter-team Westbourne, argued it would “limit the multiculturalism to just four countries, undermining other cultures.”

Alex Peck from Westbourne also urged it is “morally outrageous” to impose second language for those who have learning difficulty in English.

But Kilmore argued learning difficulty cannot prevent students from learning other languages.

Kilmore declared that “the century of Europe has ended, and China is the new super power,” emphasising the importance of studying Asian language.

Westbourne argued it was not practical to force the language they are not interested in.

The amendment was approved to make “all school must provide” the language education, instead of “all students must study”.

by Yuzuha Oka