INTERPRETATIONS OF "A NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY FOR AUSTRALIA"

Abstract

There was a time in the very recent past in Australia when immigrants were merely 'new Australians," when the Australian-born themselves looked to England for guidance in many matters, including language matters, and when the Australian Aborigines were largely ignored. These times are now in the past and a new Australia is emerging, reforming her uniqueness and recognizing her component diversity.

In January, 1983, a report appeared in Australia under the title A National Language Policy for Australia, prepared by the PLANLangPol Committee made up of representatives from six Australian associations of linguists and language teacher. This report contributes to the process of discovery and legitimization of ethnic and linguistic 1diver-sity in official Australian discourse.