Australian Government has been written in response to many requests by teachers frustrated by the difficult task of trying to teach students with low levels of literacy and/or English language the essentials of the complex and abstract information they need to function effectively as Australian citizens, particularly at election times. We were reminded of this at the 2007 election when the Electoral Commission reported that the two highest informal vote counts (9.6% and 9.1%) occurred in seats where there were 62.5% and 63% immigrant voters from non-English-speaking backgrounds.  Immigrants also need this information as they apply for Australian citizenship and this package is intended to supplement materials produced by the Federal Government.

The reading material in this package is written at approximately the same three levels as our earlier reading packages.  We have also used the same descriptions, Easy, Medium and Hard, to avoid confusing students with yet another set of unfamiliar terminology. 

Illustration pp.5, 28 and 51

With this intrinsically complex subject matter we strongly recommend that teachers start with the text which is slightly below the comfort zone of their students.  Only when they have become quite familiar with the vocabulary and concepts at that level and have completed the accompanying exercises, should any attempt be made to read the next level of text.

This reading material is accompanied by a second volume, Australian Government Workbook, Second Edition (2011), which contains teachers' notes and a significant amount of additional background information, photocopiable stimulus pictures and exercises with suggested answers.  The exercises are at the same three levels as the reading texts and include vocabulary extension and consolidation, comprehension, sentence structure, pronunciation, syllabification, punctuation and phonics, guided writing and detailed listening.

There is also a Sound Recording of Australian Government, which consists of a slow, clear reading of the three reading texts by Lyndal Reid, who is an extremely experienced Australian ESL teacher.  It also includes two recordings each of Advance Australia Fair and Waltzing Matilda.  The first is a "lined" version of the chorus and first verse of each song, led by George Buwali.  George sings each half line, which is then repeated by a group of singers: Renée Buwali, Dorothy Court, Keith Davidson, Margie McLoughlin and Lyndal Reid.  The second version in each case contains the whole song sung clearly at a very moderate pace.

Australian Government  ISBN 978 0 9757593 6 3

Australian Government Workbook  ISBN 987 0 9757593 5 6

Australian Government sound CD  ISBN 978 0 9757593 7 0

For copies of package, see list of bookshops under Available from.