Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Policy Partnership

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Policy Partnership (LPP) is an Australian Government commitment to bring together State and Territory governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to work together to improve outcomes and accelerate action on Target 16: By 2031, there is a sustained increase in the number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.

About the Policy Partnerships

The National Agreement on Closing the Gap makes provision for the establishment of Policy partnerships under Priority Reform One: formal partnership and shared decision making.

The National Agreement states at Clause 38, that by 2022, the Joint Council will establish a joined-up approach to 5 policy priority areas, between the Commonwealth, states and territories and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives. The 5 policy priority areas are:

  1. justice (adult and youth incarceration)
  2. social and emotional wellbeing (mental health)
  3. housing
  4. early childhood care and development
  5. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

The Australian Government committed $9.8 million over 3 years (2022–23 to 2024–25) to establish the LPP. This includes resources to support First Languages Australia as co-chair and as lead secretariat, supported by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.

You can find out more about the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages on First Languages Australia's website.

The LPP is part of the commitment of Australian governments to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement). The LPP will be reviewed after 3 years, in line with the National Agreement.

The purpose of this Partnership

The primary function is to make recommendations to the Joint Council about ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing.

The LPP enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to work in genuine partnership with governments to drive a joined-up approach to ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are strong and vibrant in their communities, spoken across generations within homes and across all aspects of life, and supported and celebrated by all levels of government and by all Australians.

Objectives

The objectives of the LPP include to:

  • Establish a joined-up approach between all governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to increase the strength and use of Indigenous languages and address the loss and sharp decrease of language and culture resulting from colonisation.
  • Give a focus on the Priority Reforms in the National Agreement and how they can be harnessed to make the changes needed to affect a sustained increase in the number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.
  • Identify specific measures to affect a sustainable increase in the number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
  • Identify specific measures and mechanisms to track the increase in the number and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages being spoken.
  • Identify opportunities to work more effectively across governments, the Coalition of Peaks, and community organisations, reduce gaps and duplication, and improve outcomes under Closing the Gap.
  • Support efforts to implement the National Agreement, including meeting targets for the Priority Reform areas and socio-economic outcomes.
  • Drive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-led outcomes on Closing the Gap and support community-led development initiatives.
  • Enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives, communities, and organisations to negotiate and implement agreements with governments to implement all Priority Reforms and policy-specific and place-based strategies to support Closing the Gap.

Read more in the Agreement to Implement the LPP.

You can find more detail about the LPP and their work on First Languages Australia's website

Membership

The LPP is co-chaired by a senior official from Office for the Arts and a sector peak as nominated by Coalition of Peaks—First Languages Australia (FLA) has been selected as the peak lead.

The LPP comprises representatives from peak organisations and governments, including:

  • Federal, state and territory governments
  • Coalition of Peaks Lead Peak organisations:
    • First Languages Australia
    • Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
    • First Nations Media
    • Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
    • Mobile Languages Unit
  • Five independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members.

Meetings

The LPP has held meetings on:

Engaging with the LPP

The LPP welcomes requests for engagement from government and non-government organisations developing policies or initiatives that will impact the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families.

To contact the LPP co-secretariat about an engagement opportunity, please email LPP@arts.gov.au or LPP@firstlanguages.org.au with your contact details and a short summary of your organisation's opportunity.

Resources

Read more about the Australian Government's commitments for Indigenous languages, including:

Creative Australia

Creative Australia, (formerly known as the Australia Council) is the Government’s principal arts investment and advisory body and is the centrepiece of Revive, the Government’s National Cultural Policy.

On 24 August 2023, Creative Australia was launched following the commencement of the Creative Australia Act 2023.

Creative Australia makes decisions on grants funding at arm’s length from government through peer and industry assessment and funds a wide range of arts activities, including the creation of new work, collaborations, touring, productions, exhibitions, performances, publishing, recording, promotion, market development and audience engagement.

Creative Australia also supports and promotes creative arts practice that is recognised nationally and internationally, and provides research and advocacy on issues affecting the sector.

For further information, please visit Creative Australia’s website at www.creative.gov.au.

 

Voices of Country: Australia's Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages

The Wattle Tree graphic and design for Voices of Country was a concept shaped by the International Decade of Indigenous Languages Directions Group and created by the design agency Gilimbaa with cultural elements created by David Williams (Wakka Wakka).

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the critical status of many Indigenous languages across the world and encourage action for their preservation, revitalization and promotion.

Voices of Country—Australia's Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022–2032, provides a framework to guide Australia's participation in the International Decade. Voices of Country is a call to action for all stakeholders.

The Voices of Country was released on 23 August 2023 at the PULiiMA Indigenous Languages and Technology Conference.

The Action Plan has been co-authored in partnership between the International Decade of Indigenous Languages Directions Group and the Australian Government, and has the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities at its heart.

Voices of Country is framed through five inter-connected themes:

  1. stop the loss
  2. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are centre
  3. caring for Country
  4. intergenerational knowledge transfer
  5. truth telling and celebration.

Voices of Country builds on what has been achieved through the Australian Government's National Cultural Policy Revive—a place for every story, a story for every place.

IDIL cultural pattern bar 1.

 

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