Australia should be doing the Latin American tango

In addition to prime ministerial/ presidential and ministerial traffic going both ways increasing, should we not also be encouraging Spanish language courses in the same way we are Asian language courses? There are 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide, and in the US, Spanish is the number two language due to large scale Hispanic migration.

There is little knowledge in our schools about Latin America, and Spanish language classes alongside history and contemporary studies about the region will go some way to putting meat on the bones of the Rudd Government’s commitment.

And how about the Australian media taking more than a passing interest in the region? Brazil and Chile both have a strong Australian diplomatic and business presence, and there are a number of Australians working in senior positions in NGOs in the region. What happens in Latin America does matter for Australia, and Australians are entitled to know that the media that brings the news to them is au fait with developments.

Finally, to the limited extent we are able through the auspices of fora such as APEC (to which Chile and Peru belong), and the US, Australia needs to work with Latin America to ensure the conditions for political and economic stability are at an optimal level. A stable Latin America is in Australia’s economic and strategic interests.