Australian commonwealth, state, and territory ministers for education and training established a joint working party to develop a draft national policy on adult and community education (ACE) in Australia. Recognizing that the precise boundaries of ACE are best set by individual states and territories, the working party refrained from developing any strict definition of ACE and instead based its draft policy on the following underlying principles: (1) adults have diverse and changing learning needs throughout their lives and therefore require a correspondingly diverse range of accessible and affordable education services with variety of provision and plurality of choice; (2) adult learning is best delivered through learner-centered curricula and methodologies; and (3) community-based services that support and strengthen existing community networks and help create new ones are likely to be highly responsive to the needs of their communities. The draft policy's framework was as follows: (1) realization of the potential of ACE; (2) access and equity; (3) opportunities and outcomes; (4) learning pathways; (5) quality; and (6) partnerships. Intended outcomes and strategies for achieving them were developed for each item. (Names and addresses of the working party members are appended.) (MN)