Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a brilliant youth engagement program being spearheaded by Western Australia Police, Lions clubs and Murdoch University. The SAY project, Students Advising Youth, is an innovative program which looks to use digital and social media to communicate a crime prevention message to the community at large. Participants, aged 12 to 18 years, through their secondary schools or youth groups, are asked to make a short film and upload it onto YouTube. These films are required to promote a message related to crime prevention and this year's message is anti drugs. With the help of pod casts created by Murdoch University School of Media, Communications and Culture, students will be required to digitally market the films online and on social media, with the most often viewed and most popular video from that organisation being entered into the state finals.

This program seeks to engage young people through a tactile and practical experience using media they are familiar and comfortable with. Like many other outer metro areas, Canning is increasingly faced by the challenge of illicit drug use among young people, with often the consumption of these substances leading to the committal of more serious crimes to support their habits. By young people putting these videos together to distribute among their peers, it is hoped that drug use will increasingly be seen as unacceptable and that consumption and any foray further into the murky depths of substance abuse will be discouraged. Registrations for the program close on 24 July 2014. I strongly encourage all schools and youth groups to protest page on this program. (Time expired)