Tongan born Australian politician, Elizabeth Falemaka Kikkert of the Australian Liberal Party (Liberal), spoke in Tongan during an address to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on Wednesday.

Kikkert was making an address in support of a motion for the Australian state of ACT to observe “International Mother Language Day” – a language awareness day recognised by the United Nations. She spoke briefly in Tongan for about 30 seconds as an introductory in her address.

The motion was agreed to and supported by all members of the ACT Legislative Assembly, and passed without dispute.

Kikkert stated in her address, “I am in fact one of three MLAs in this Assembly whose mother tongue is not English – my first language is incredibly important to me. It forms an essential part of my identity.”

“In this motion, the importance of learning and speaking English completely, competently for all Australians is not disputed. But it is important to emphasize that Australia is not a monolingual society”, she added.

“According to the latest census almost 22% of ACT households speak a language other than English, we should do all we can to celebrate and encourage this great linguist diversity…”

International Mother Language Day is observed on 21 February and was formally recognized by the United Nations in 2008. The Day was announced by UNESCO in 1999.