Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Youth and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I would like to take the time today to outline to the House the recent launch of the new Australian Youth Forum, and the renewed efforts by government to work with young Australians on the issues important to them. The AYF represents a new, dynamic and accessible approach to communicating with young Australians that will literally enable thousands of young people from all corners of the country to engage with government on the issues that matter most to them.

It is clear to me that young Australians are increasingly grappling with emerging pressures unique to their generation. The AYF presents the opportunity for young people to highlight concerns and work in partnership with government to identify solutions. While some claim that today’s young are facing the same pressures that have been dealt with by generations past, it is clear that young Australians are facing new challenges not experienced by those who have gone before. While there is certainly nothing to gain from battling it out in a contest of which generation has done it the toughest, there is a real need to accept that different generations have done it differently and that there are unique circumstances and pressures faced by each.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, Young Australians: their health and wellbeing 2007, paints a picture of a vastly different array of issues challenging young Australians today. Issues like soaring rates of self-harm bring home the magnitude of pressures today. The report identifies that intentional self-harm is one of the leading causes of death for teenagers and also identifies that one in 10 Australians aged 15 to 19 reported a mental or behavioural problem.

Housing affordability, body image, drug and alcohol issues and climate change are all now high on the list of young people’s concerns. Emerging technology alone has brought a host of new issues and opportunities—the internet and cyber bullying, text messaging and video phones, constant bombardment of messages through various mediums, just to name a few. To respond effectively to emerging issues, we need to better engage with those who are actually facing these challenges—the young people of Australia. And first we need to accept that at times these issues may be unfamiliar or removed from our realities, but they are all too real for Australia’s youth.

Our government is committed to empowering Australia’s youth and supporting them in the many challenges they face. It is of course in our nation’s long-term interest for us to ensure that a group of confident, empowered and healthy Australians inherit the future. The Australian government stands ready to respond to the challenges facing our younger generations. Indeed, we are addressing many of these issues through a range of different programs and support systems put in place across government portfolios. However, in better equipping ourselves to respond, we have also had to make some changes.

In recent weeks the government has made some of the most significant youth affairs announcements this country has heard in literally decades. As previously reported to the House, the establishment of the new Australian government’s Office for Youth provides us with the capacity and infrastructure to work far more effectively and strategically across portfolios, to ensure the best outcomes in policy and programs for young Australians. On 2 October I was also delighted to announce the government’s $8 million initiative to include, to empower and to give young Australians a seat at the table in public discussions.

The Australian Youth Forum will foster national dialogue between young Australians and their government, but also between young Australians and each other. For too long, young people have been silenced and sidelined in public debate and the AYF is breaking new ground—important ground. We have sought input far and wide. And we have done something outrageous—we have actually asked for input from Australia’s youth on the way they want to engage with the government.

A public consultation was conducted right around the country earlier this year to determine the best model for the AYF. This process heard nearly 1,000 voices—many of these young people in addition to youth sector representatives. The AYF sets Australia apart internationally. And with this we seek to lead the world in youth engagement and participation. Participation by young people is also being transformed by the internet and new media. Importantly, the latest research suggests that young people value participation in democracy and decision making which is culturally relevant, flexible, effective, makes a difference to them personally and can even be fun. Family background, gender and ethnicity also affect how young people tend to engage in the democratic process.

The AYF is structured to achieve two primary objectives: (1) widespread youth engagement across the country and (2) meaningful and ongoing engagement with the youth sector—those individuals and organisations that work with and for young people. We will achieve these two objectives through a number of local public and policy forums held at multiple sites around the nation. These forums will be open to all young Australians and link them in a nationwide conversation and debate with the use of emerging technologies. We are also committed to an outreach initiative to involve the disengaged and meet with young people on their own turf. And we have launched an AYF website so that wherever young people are they can connect with their government online. These proactive approaches will provide the government with regular, direct input on key issues of the day that impact directly on young people’s lives.

We have also established a steering committee to provide advice on the future shape and activities of the Australian Youth Forum, and give young people the chance to be centrally involved in decision-making processes about the AYF. In addition to the steering committee, the government has committed $400,000 annually over the next four years to support the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition in its role as an independent voice and advocate of young people and the youth sector.

We expect the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition will have robust discussions with government on the issues raised with them by young people themselves. The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition will also provide the youth sector with new opportunities to work with government to ensure young people have access to the support they need to achieve their full potential.

I want to stress that the AYF is about dialogue—a two-way exchange between young people, the youth sector and the government. We are serious about genuine engagement and follow-through. And, of course, it will be my role as minister to front up, follow up and provide that feedback. The AYF will contribute to a vibrant and healthy democracy. It will generate lively public debates, serious discussion and cultivate a new generation of young people embracing the opportunity to get their voices heard and views known.

But this is just the beginning. The AYF will evolve over time, shaped by feedback, advice and input from the AYF steering committee and the national youth peak body. It will be responsive, dynamic, seek to embrace emerging technology and meet changing needs as we assess and evaluate along the way. The AYF will provide young Australians with the opportunity to converse with government on a level and in a way never available before. The government is committed to governing for all Australians and this new forum will enable us to continue to work with and represent the young more effectively.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Indi to speak for eight minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Mrs Mirabella speaking for a period not exceeding eight minutes.

Question agreed to.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with the Minister for Youth in congratulating the young Australians who attended the launch of the Australian Youth Forum on 2 October in Adelaide. The coalition does support measures and initiatives that see young Australians given a bigger seat at the policy table of this great nation. I would like to make it clear that the opposition supports any attempt to establish bodies that directly focus on young people. However, Labor’s new national Youth Forum must meet the very high standards and opportunities that the coalition’s National Youth Roundtable has provided young Australians with over the past decade.

When in government, the coalition had a very proud record or supporting and promoting young Australians. No greater example of this was the coalition’s very successful National Youth Roundtable. It gave young Australians a very strong voice in government and an input into the many policy areas that impact on their lives. As outlined by the Minister for Youth, there are many unique issues facing young Australians today, and the AYF must recognise these and take decisive action. Dialogue and open discussion are all very helpful and good and well and provide information to government ministers, to the opposition and to other bodies interested in developing policies affecting young people, but this must lead to real outcomes—and real outcomes come from implementing policies that make a difference, that affect the lives of young people in various ways in the areas with which they are concerned.

There is no more important issue to the lives of young people than the opportunity to get a job, to gain employment. There are many issues across the spectrum—technology based issues, environmental based issues and other global issues. No doubt the current financial crisis is of concern to young people, as it is to all Australians. The opportunity to get a job, the opportunity to have that freedom to develop their own career and to choose their own path in life, gives young people the freedom to make choices about their lives. The opposition, particularly the Liberal Party, has as one of its founding principles to maximise freedom for individuals to lead their lives. The best way you can do that is not to have people consigned to welfare but to give them the freedom to create opportunities in their lives, and that is through giving them a job. There are also issues such as learning and developing skills. Having the opportunity to fulfil one’s educational aspirations, whether that leads to education or to a broader understanding, allows young people to build on their confidence and their knowledge and to go forth—to have a family, to have a job and to have a life.

The government must put policies in place that address the concerns of young people. Simply holding a forum will not achieve this. Action, leadership and decisions need to follow immediately. We cannot have endless reviews and endless summits. My fear, which I hope is not fulfilled, for the future wellbeing of young Australians is that the AYF will fall into the same talkfest that the 2020 Youth Summit was. There has been a considerable amount of criticism from many different individuals and organisations across the nation regarding the 2020 Youth Summit. My hope is that the AYF will be a lot more beneficial and meaningful to young Australians than the 2020 Youth Summit, which many have labelled as a complete waste of time considering that no significant action by the government has followed. Discussion and feedback from delegates to the AYF need to be given serious consideration. I would not like to see the AYF swept under the carpet as have so many reviews, inquiries and forums already undertaken—and, no doubt, to be undertaken—by this government. It is all very well to convene all these forums and summits, but at some point young Australians are no different from other Australians in wanting action.

For instance, there is little point talking about issues impacting on young people when they cannot get a job. We know of the depressingly high unemployment rates that beset young people under the former Labor government. The unemployment rate reached over 34 per cent in July 1992. There was little hope for young people during that time, and unemployment affected young people across the board—young people who wanted to do apprenticeships and young people who had good university degrees. Their lives were fundamentally altered for a significant number of years because they could not fulfil their potential. They were consigned to a life that was not as fulfilling. They were consigned to a very difficult life that former generations had not suffered. That is something that we must guard against. This government must introduce policies and must listen to young people to ensure that we do not get to those high levels of unemployment again.

I am very proud of the track record of the previous coalition government in focusing its attention on specific policies that affected young people. I will mention a few of them. We had the $80 million package for the Reconnect program. This program was very important. It provided early intervention for young homeless Australians to move back with their families and their communities. Any family that has been severely affected or torn apart by the homelessness of one of their young family members will know that this is a very serious issue that affects families across all socioeconomic levels in our society. We had the $12 million package for the Mentor Marketplace program, which saw the business sector and the community unite to provide mentoring for young Australians who needed assistance. We had a very significant and very visible Tough on Drugs campaign, and we know that nothing affects the future ability of young people to lead their lives—to work, to study, to have meaningful relationships—than the physical, mental and emotional damage that can be caused from drug taking. It was very important to also see parents engaged in that campaign. I know many young people were educated on the long-term effects of drug taking, as were their families.

We had other programs like the POEM pilot program that began in May 2002, which provided full-time education and personal development programs for young people aged between 13 and 19 who were disconnected from mainstream schooling or had a tenuous connection to school. The coalition is very proud of the programs that it implemented. They were part of a very proud record that represented the concerns and the needs of young people and their families.

We support the government in the establishment of the AYF as a body that will aim to represent the concerns and aspirations of young people, which is exactly what it must do. It must represent their concerns and aspirations and lead to decisive action by this government.