Abstract
Effective translations are vital for equitable access to public information in multilingual societies like Australia. Many Australian government organisations have guidelines to facilitate translation provision. We reviewed publicly available guidelines around translation and multilingual resource development produced by a diverse set of government agencies across Australia, at the state, territory and federal level. Twenty relevant guidelines were sourced through online web searches and then analysed via a coding framework based on a typical translation workflow: preparation of source text; planning for translation; production of translation; and post-production measures. Our review reveals that Australian translation guidelines are markedly inconsistent, diverging greatly in their comprehensiveness, nature of content covered, and extent of supporting examples and actionable advice provided. The current fragmented landscape of Australian translation guidelines poses risks for the quality of multilingual communication and potentially undermines equitable access to critical public information. We argue that existing guidelines should be consolidated through a collaborative effort which incorporates key stakeholders across the entire translation workflow.