Whether reported using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home (LNGP)

This variable indicates whether a person reports using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home.

All persons

This variable is derived from the Census variable Language used at home (LANP), which is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), 2016.

This variable defines a speaker of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language as a person who reported using a language that was coded to ASCL broad group 8 – Australian Indigenous languages.

This variable is new for the 2021 Census. Prior to this, data was obtained manually from the Language used at home (LANP) variable.

Additional instructional text was added to the Census form regarding Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander languages and stated, 'Include use of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander languages in the ‘please specify’ option.

An enhancement to the online form presented a check box for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language for those respondents who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the Indigenous status question. To improve the data collected on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, these respondents also had the option to provide a specific language in the ‘please specify’ box if they wished.

Additional instructions were added to the Interviewer Household Form question to improve the reporting of specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. The Interviewer Household Form is used in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Additional instructions included: 

• Where possible, write the full name of the language
• If the person speaks Creole, where possible provide more information. For example: Cape York Creole, Broome Kriol, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole). 

The Main language used at home Census question is designed to find out which languages other than English are spoken by people at home. This question only allows for one answer and therefore the number of responses shown in the category ‘Speaker of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language’ is not all persons who speak an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language.

Whether reported using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home (LNGP) is derived from Language used at home (LANP). The non-response rate for Language used at home (LANP) was 5.7% in 2021. This is a decrease from 6.5% in 2016.

• Language used at home (LANP)
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Interviewer Household Form

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census