But the school language programs and university courses that produced them are closing, one by one," it warned."To ensure Australian self-reliance in Asia in challenging and contested times, we need to act to preserve the institutions that build our Asia capability."The numbers are indeed staggering.Domestic enrolments in South-East Asian languages at Australian universities have fallen by 75 per cent between 2005 and 2024."Barely 500 of the one million domestic Australian university students are studying Indonesian language, fewer than when Menzies was prime minister", the committee's report says."The situation is even more dire in our schools In 2026, just four students across the state were projected to sit a year 12 Indonesian exam."The committee's report notes there has been a multitude of earlier reports that have urged government strategies to help Australia make its way in Asia.But it says that "while Asia has grown more important to Australia during this time, governments from both sides of politics have not met the challenge set by these reports", which will require "sustained national policy focus over the long term".The committee heard two justifications for why nothing had to be done about this.One was AI translation tools which, it is claimed, will make language learning redundant