An audit of NSW legislation and policy on the government’s public communications in languages other than English

Grey, A; Severin, AA

An audit of NSW legislation and policy on the government’s public communications in languages other than English

Grey, A

Severin, AA

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Publisher:: Socio-Legal Research Centre
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Griffith Law Review, 2021
Issue Date:: 2021-09-15

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Grey, A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2970-6969
dc.contributor.author	Severin, AA
dc.date.accessioned	2021-09-02T03:15:55Z
dc.date.available	2021-09-02T03:15:55Z
dc.date.issued	2021-09-15
dc.identifier.citation	Griffith Law Review, 2021
dc.identifier.issn	1038-3441
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/150291
dc.description.abstract	This article reports on a 2019-2021 audit of the framework of an Australian state-level government’s decisions about their public communications in languages other than English (LOTEs). This audit involved a systematic search and analysis of current New South Wales (NSW) legislation and publicly available, formal, departmental policy. It found a dearth of either legislation or policy about the language of government communications, but we present a typology of ways in which NSW law seeks to regulate choice of language in other communications. These are laws that target how government representatives should (not) communicate with individuals and how non-government entities should (not) communicate with individuals, other entities, or the government, in particular contexts. We discuss the shortfalls of this decision-making framework. This includes interrogating of the role of NSW’s statutory Multicultural Principle about linguistic diversity and the haphazard ways that NSW legislation requires language of communication to be considered in relation to the likelihood that an intended audience will understand certain communications; our concerns about the lack of accountability for non-compliance; and a warning that leaving the majority of public NSW government communications reliant on informal/reactionary policy is unsuited to equitably fulfilling the needs of all NSW constituents. The article closes by arguing that consistent clear policy to guide the NSW government’s public communications practices would enable the government to more readily fulfil the (communicative) needs of its constituents. We thus propose a path for law and policy reform as well as directions for further research, both aimed at improving government decision-making and communicative efficiency with regard to NSW’s linguistically diverse public.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Socio-Legal Research Centre
dc.relation	University of Technology Sydney
dc.relation.ispartof	Griffith Law Review
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law
dc.title	An audit of NSW legislation and policy on the government’s public communications in languages other than English
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2021-09-02T03:15:54Z
pubs.publication-status	Accepted

Abstract:

This article reports on a 2019-2021 audit of the framework of an Australian state-level government’s decisions about their public communications in languages other than English (LOTEs). This audit involved a systematic search and analysis of current New South Wales (NSW) legislation and publicly available, formal, departmental policy. It found a dearth of either legislation or policy about the language of government communications, but we present a typology of ways in which NSW law seeks to regulate choice of language in other communications. These are laws that target how government representatives should (not) communicate with individuals and how non-government entities should (not) communicate with individuals, other entities, or the government, in particular contexts. We discuss the shortfalls of this decision-making framework. This includes interrogating of the role of NSW’s statutory Multicultural Principle about linguistic diversity and the haphazard ways that NSW legislation requires language of communication to be considered in relation to the likelihood that an intended audience will understand certain communications; our concerns about the lack of accountability for non-compliance; and a warning that leaving the majority of public NSW government communications reliant on informal/reactionary policy is unsuited to equitably fulfilling the needs of all NSW constituents. The article closes by arguing that consistent clear policy to guide the NSW government’s public communications practices would enable the government to more readily fulfil the (communicative) needs of its constituents. We thus propose a path for law and policy reform as well as directions for further research, both aimed at improving government decision-making and communicative efficiency with regard to NSW’s linguistically diverse public.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/150291