Broadcaster SBS has updated its language services in line with Australia’s changing and increasingly diverse demographic profile, while boosting its support for Indo-Pacific languages.

The changes are in line with recent Census results and see four new languages – Bislama, Malay, Oromo and Tetum – to SBS’ offerings.

The move is the result of the latest five-yearly review of services.

SBS says it will continue to serve more than 60 languages across emerging and high needs language communities.

The latest Census shows that 5.6 million Australians use a language other than English at home.

Based on this latest review, SBS will also respond to the high growth in migration from South Asia – by recommissioning Telugu, growing our Punjabi and Nepali teams, and launching an English podcast for younger audiences from South Asia.

It will Increase investment in First Nations voices, Auslan and the SBS Settlement Guide.

The broadcaster will also commission Afrikaans content through SBS Dutch and rename SBS Dari to SBS Dari (includes Hazaragi) to increase visibility of existing services.

“Supporting these changes, the SBS Radio brand has officially become SBS Audio, bringing together our full language audio offering across radio, podcasting, live streaming and digital publishing into one convenient place to better meet your needs,” said SBS Director of Audio & Language Content David Hua.

“SBS is proud to remain Australia’s most multicultural broadcaster, and diverse storyteller,” he said.

“SBS announced changes to its audio language services to reflect Australia’s rapidly changing and increasingly diverse society, investing more in Indo-Pacific and First Nations languages and continuing to tell stories of contemporary Australia, building belonging and social cohesion.

It follows Census data showing the number of Australians using a language other than English at home grew 16 per cent to 5.6 million, with SBS’s updated services continuing to serve 92 per cent of these users and reach more audiences than ever before.

SBS will now service 63 languages in total across radio, podcasting, online and social media.