The chestnut-crowned babbler is a medium-sized bird that is endemic to arid and semi-arid areas of south-eastern Australia. It is a member of the family Pomatostomidae, which comprises five species of Australo-Papuan babblers. All are boisterous and highly social, living in groups of up to 23 individuals that forage and breed communally. Other names include red-capped babbler, rufous-crowned babbler and chatterer.

The Pomatostomidae are small to medium-sized birds endemic to Australia-New Guinea. For many years, the Australo-Papuan babblers were classified, rather uncertainly, with the Old World babblers (Timaliidae), on the grounds of similar appearance and habits. More recent research, however, indicates that they are too basal to belong the Passerida – let alone the Sylvioidea where the Old World babblers are placed – and they are now classed as a separate family close to the Orthonychidae (logrunners). Five species in two genus are currently recognised, although the red-breasted subspecies rubeculus of the grey-crowned babbler may prove to be a separate species.