‘Language is power’: Top End Strong Languages Statement launched

A commitment to supporting more than 30 First Nations languages across the Top End was launched during the 2026 NAIDOC Week events at Charles Darwin University (CDU).

The Top End Strong Languages Statement is a declaration of shared commitment to bilingual education, community language governance, and grassroots-led revival efforts.

The statement was developed over two Top End Languages Forums in 2022 and 2025, with the most recent (2025) three-day intensive forum bringing together more than 75 delegates from 10 Top End communities. Organisational support was provided by CDU, and funding by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 

CDU PhD candidate Ian Mongunu Gumbula, who co-led the drafting of the statement, said it was incredibly important to lay out the communities’ wishes in a formal statement and he was proud to see a project that came “not just from people’s minds, but from people’s hearts”.

“Language is power – it gives you strength for identifying who you are, where you are from, and what Country you are on,” he said.

“It’s how we live and work, it shapes our understanding of our surroundings, and it gives us a sense of freedom to keep those languages alive.

“It was a wonderful thing for me to sit and listen at the launch event and see our hard work becoming a reality.”

According to UNESCO, at least 40 per cent of the 7,000 languages spoken around the world are endangered. On average, one language is lost every two weeks.

Data from the 2025-26 National Indigenous Languages Survey, shows that while more languages are being revived, revitalized or reawakened than ever, all Australian languages are under threat. 

The survey found at least 70 Aboriginal languages are spoken or used in the NT. However, at least 27 of those languages have fewer than 50 speakers under the age of twenty, and 9 have no speakers at all under the age of twenty.

Without urgent and sustained intervention, many of the NT’s languages will cease to be spoken or used within only a few generations.

AIATSIS sponsored the 2025 Top End Languages Forum. Lauren Reed, Director for the AIATSIS Centre for Australian Languages said the Top End Strong Languages Statement was a remarkable achievement in Indigenous governance and self-determination.

“Top End leaders have made it clear that bilingual education and language teaching in schools are essential to strengthening their languages,” she said. 

“This aligns with the evidence base that bilingual education bolsters intergenerational transmission, improves school attendance, engagement and participation rates and strengthens cultural identity and wellbeing.”

Samuel Daniels, Executive Officer of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL) Australia attended the launch. He said the Statement gave IDIL Australia something concrete to put in front of government and funders.

“It is community-authored, and backed by more than a hundred language custodians across two forums," he said. 

"It's proof of what's possible when communities are given the time and the say to lead the process themselves. We'll be drawing on it directly in our push for a National Languages Act and an independent Languages Commission."