Editorial

Abstract

The AFMLTA national conference was recently held in Canberra and was an outstanding success. Our biennial conferences attract dedicated support from the languages education community across Australia, and internationally, and this one was no exception. Despite the chills of a Canberra winter, more than 250 languages educators gathered to participate in four days of presentation, collaboration, challenges and celebrations of what we do. Inspirational keynote addresses from Tim Lindsey and John Hajek of The University of Melbourne compelled us to burst Australia's unsustainable monolingual 'bubble' and to urgently engage with multilingualism, and more directly with our neighbours in Asia. Both these presenters argued the necessity and urgency of increased engagement, for an effective place in the world and as an entitlement of young people, which can only effectively be done through increased languages and cultures understanding, and capacity to engage with others for whom multilingualism and interculturalism is an everyday given.