what language does people speak in australia?
English Language
entailment
 Although Australia has no official language , English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language . Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon , and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling . General Australian serves as the standard dialect . According to the 2011 census , English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 81 % of the population . The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin ( 1 @.@ 7 % ) , Italian ( 1 @.@ 5 % ) , Arabic ( 1 @.@ 4 % ) , Cantonese ( 1 @.@ 3 % ) , Greek ( 1 @.@ 3 % ) , and Vietnamese ( 1 @.@ 2 % ) ; a considerable proportion of first- and second @-@ generation migrants are bilingual . A 2010 – 2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic , followed by Vietnamese , Greek , Chinese , and Hindi . 

entailment
 Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact , of which less than 20 are still in daily use by all age groups . About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people . At the time of the 2006 census , 52 @,@ 000 Indigenous Australians , representing 12 % of the Indigenous population , reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home . Australia has a sign language known as Auslan , which is the main language of about 5 @,@ 500 deaf people . 

entailment
 Australia has two public broadcasters ( the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Special Broadcasting Service ) , three commercial television networks , several pay @-@ TV services , and numerous public , non @-@ profit television and radio stations . Each major city has at least one daily newspaper , and there are two national daily newspapers , The Australian and The Australian Financial Review . In 2010 , Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 18th on a list of 178 countries ranked by press freedom , behind New Zealand ( 8th ) but ahead of the United Kingdom ( 19th ) and United States ( 20th ) . This relatively low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia ; most print media are under the control of News Corporation and Fairfax Media . 

neutral
 Australia has no state religion ; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion , impose any religious observance , or prohibit the free exercise of any religion . In the 2011 census , 61 @.@ 1 % of Australians were counted as Christian , including 25 @.@ 3 % as Roman Catholic and 17 @.@ 1 % as Anglican ; 22 @.@ 3 % of the population reported having " no religion " ; 7 @.@ 2 % identify with non @-@ Christian religions , the largest of these being Buddhism ( 2 @.@ 5 % ) , followed by Islam ( 2 @.@ 2 % ) , Hinduism ( 1 @.@ 3 % ) and Judaism ( 0 @.@ 5 % ) . The remaining 9 @.@ 4 % of the population did not provide an adequate answer . 

contradiction
 English ( American English ) is the de facto national language . Although there is no official language at the federal level , some laws — such as U.S. naturalization requirements — standardize English . In 2010 , about 230 million , or 80 % of the population aged five years and older , spoke only English at home . Spanish , spoken by 12 % of the population at home , is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language . Some Americans advocate making English the country 's official language , as it is in 28 states . 
