From Community Voices to a National Plan
Over the past 18 months, the Sector Strengthening Team has travelled extensively across Australia to hold consultation workshops with language communities.
These workshops gave communities the opportunity to talk about what is needed to build a stronger language sector and see their languages flourish.
Key priorities included:
Long-term funding
A strong and supported workforce
Better infrastructure and technology
Good governance
Access to Country
Stronger laws and policies
Community control of language work
Key Achievements:
Visited 24 locations across Australia.
Engaged with 500+ participants representing 110+ Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander languages.
Online language survey had input from 84 Indigenous participants
Completed 23 Community Consultation Reports, capturing the priorities
and needs shared by each region for their own use.
Community input from the workshops informed the development
of a national Languages Sector Strengthening Plan.
Informed by what we heard, the Sector Strengthening Team has now drafted a national Languages Sector Strengthening Plan (LSSP).
The LSSP presents a vision of a strong, community-controlled languages sector that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to do the critical language work needed to increase
the strength of our languages and see them strong,
supported and flourishing.
What is next moving forward?
First Languages Australia has been working closely with the Languages Sector Strengthening Plan Working Group (LSSPWG) and the Languages Policy Partnership (LPP) to develop the LSSP.
The LSSP will be considered by the LPP at their next meeting in August 2026 and will be delivered to Joint Council for agreement in November 2026.
Following Joint Council agreement, the focus will move to implementation of the LSSP.
This next stage will require continued work and partnership with language communities, language centres and programs, peak bodies and governments to secure the investment, support and resources needed to strengthen the languages sector and ensure our languages are supported for future generations.
The Languages Sector Strengthening Plan has been shaped by the voices of communities across Australia.
The next step is to work together to turn those voices and priorities into strong, flourishing and thriving languages.
First Languages Australia looks forward to sharing the Languages Sector Strengthening Plan with our network once it receives Joint Council endorsement.
