Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the 18 February, I hosted the Wills Youth Issues Forum, which discussed a range of serious issues impacting on our most vulnerable, including the drug ice, alcohol, crime, mental health, homelessness and unemployment. The forum was an outstanding success, with over 100 local residents, social service providers and community leaders coming together to raise awareness and to address some of the biggest challenges we as a community face today. As the forum illustrated, young people today are experiencing some of the most serious challenges and tough economic circumstances in a long time.

The forum's panellists included Les Twentyman from the 20th Man Fund, Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles from the Police Association of Victoria, Superintendent Michael Hermans from Victoria Police, Professor Rob Moodie from the University of Melbourne, Sarah Groves from the Oxygen Committee, Rebecca Scott from STREAT, and Councillor Helen Davidson from Moreland City Council. Local organisations such as Youth Projects, Salvation Army Crossroads, Hope Street, Inner Northern Local Learning and Employment Network and others also made valuable contributions. Each speaker came with a wealth of expertise, knowledge and experience on how we as a country can address these challenges.

Les Twentyman strongly advocated for governments to fund outreach youth workers in all schools who would have the capacity to engage with students on a daily basis and be able to identify at-risk and vulnerable students from an early stage in order to provide assistance. Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles spoke about the links between alcohol, drugs, mental illness and violent behaviour and the proliferation of alcohol licences in Melbourne. Ron spoke about the breakdown of the family unit in our community and the lack of communication between parents and children in modern society. Ron stated that addressing these issues should not solely be attempted through arrest and incarceration but rather having these as part of a sophisticated strategy that involves multiagency coordination and pathways. Superintendent Mick Herman said Hume is identified as the highest socioeconomic underprivileged area in Victoria, and Moreland is the seventh. Mick is a strong believer in providing alternative pathways to prevent young people from reoffending. Professor Rob Moodie said that Australia can learn from the Scandinavian countries that have fewer jails, not more. Every young person should be able to be connected through the community, and alternative pathways and avenues to assist young people ought to take priority over, for example, school suspensions, which should be a last resort. Sarah Groves spoke about the role of Oxygen in Moreland. She said addressing the reasons and causes as to why some young people turn to drugs and other antisocial behaviours, particularly ice, is important to changing behaviours. Rebecca Scott from STREAT spoke about their successful social enterprise model, which has designed, adopted and implemented approaches to address the critical issues of homelessness, disadvantage and youth unemployment.

Based on the forum's discussions and viewpoints, I have developed the following proposals, which I am raising with relevant government, opposition and policy authorities: that federal and state governments investigate and trial the idea of social welfare officers in schools; that state governments review school suspensions in the context of their effectiveness to change student behaviour; that governments should curb the number of liquor licences across Melbourne; that a national homelessness strategy should be developed; that better ways of coordinating youth, social and employment policies between government departments, social service agencies and communities are needed; that genuine and meaningful diversionary and alternative pathways as opposed to prison must be created; and that making it easier for families to proactively seek rehabilitation assistance for drug and alcohol affected relatives is important.

Governments should invest in flexible approaches to tackling homelessness and unemployment by working with social enterprises such as STREAT and investigate ways that more small businesses can engage young people and long-term unemployed through training, education and part-time and ongoing employment. A follow-up forum on unemployment issues should be held to investigate ways government and businesses can stimulate the economy to create more job opportunities for young people. I will be hosting this follow-up forum specifically on local unemployment issues on 30 June and note and thank the shadow minister for employment, the member for Gorton, who will be attending. I am absolutely committed to strengthening our local community fabric by providing the necessary services to our most vulnerable so that no-one is left behind and to ensure job opportunities are made available for those who can and want to work.