Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 57:01 to 1:03:24
The Office for Youth details findings from the first National Youth Survey, identifying cost of living, mental health, and climate change as top priorities for young Australians, and discusses how this feedback informs policy.
Topics: Education, Social services
Speakers: Ms. Alana Winslow, Senator Paul Scarr, Senator Jess Walsh, Unknown Speaker
>> Yeah. So I think we could go through the work of the youth advisory groups and give some of that information. So, I'm
not I'm not really I'm I'm looking for some concrete examples as to how the work you do has fed into government decision-m processes. Does that make sense?
>> Yeah, I'm happy to take that question, Senator. Um Alana Winslow, assistant secretary for the office for youth. So as the minister highlighted uh the office for youth um in terms of our focus it is around facilitating opportunities for young people to uh share their views and perspectives with government and there are different mechanisms that we have in place to support that.
>> Yeah as yeah as the minister's mentioned we have >> just to be just to be precise I I understand the front end in terms of you getting those views. I'm interested in the back end as to how those views when they're provided in the processes have actually positively contributed to the development of policy over say the last six months.
>> Absolutely. So through our youth advisory group program, we have five um uh youth advisory groups um in place currently that partner with particular agencies across the Commonwealth and that provides a direct um avenue for young people to share their perspectives with with various agencies and departments. So for example, our mental health youth advisory group works directly with the national mental health commission and the department of health and aging um to support the co-design of mental health resources and supports for young people uh and also works broadly with um the national mental health commission in how they can support young people to engage and access mental
>> So are there any and happy for you to take it on notice I'm I'm new to this committee. I'm just interested to know some concrete examples with respect to uh how the input you're receiving through those very worthwhile mechanisms have actually led to development of policy to change uh to reform um rather than a general description of the of of
the structure. We can we can provide further detail of the the work of all youth advisory groups on notice. But another example is our youth steering committee um that we support through the office for youth. They've supported and provided advice into the anti-bullying rapid review which is obviously a priority for the department of education.
>> Okay. So that's what I'm looking for that sort of concrete example.
>> Quite a few um examples we can point to.
>> Okay. So happy for you to provide that on notice and and just to give me a better understanding in that regard. Um so then in terms of um the feedback you've received from young people over the last 6 months has anything stood
>> Yeah, certainly. Um we recently published our 202 um 526 uh annual report which um outlines the the progress of our national youth strategy engage. And through that um report uh we were able to highlight some of the findings from our first national youth survey which again is another mechanism through the office for youth for young people to share their views and perspectives with government on priorities. Uh and some of the pleasing findings in that report uh included that 70% of um program participants uh of the young people engaged in our in our programs um did feel that they'd influenced a government policy um and and nearly uh over 90% um reported a positive experience through their work with the office for youth. um
>> in terms of issues young people are
facing. >> Certainly, they did outline their their top issues and and and priorities um as young people in Australia. >> So, I can step you through the top five that they reported. Y
>> and and if you can provide any commentary as to how they might have changed over the last few years, if they
have or whether or not it's pretty do that. >> It was our first national uh youth.
>> So, top five.
>> Yep. Um so the the number one issue that young people reported u went to cost of living. Uh number two was around mental health and well-being. Uh number three was climate change. Number four was housing affordability and number five was um education and training. And we currently have um as of last Monday our second national youth survey um up up and running and live. And we are looking to um again hear from young people around their their priorities this year. and and we'll be certainly able to then um reflect on the two reports and any trends. Um
>> so we're dealing with education and training here. What are the what what's the particular issue in that regard? Um
so around education and training um these can go to issues around um access to education and training um uh support for developing job ready skills um support for choosing you know appropriate courses and career paths uh and also transitions uh between education and employment.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh so can you and you might just take this on notice. Can you provide uh details with respect to any topics? I'm not looking for the advice itself, but any topics the office of youth has provided advice on to government over the last 6 months. Uh in particular in relation to young people's view of taxation policies. So obviously there was some fundamental changes taxation policy recently. Uh any advice on youth unemployment? I'm going to ask some questions on youth unemployment in particular uh especially in a Queensland context just to let you know uh and advice on um youth mental health services. So if you can just take that on notice and provide us any topics. Uh how many FTE does the office of youth
>> Yeah. Um we have 14. Um
>> okay. Uh can you also take on notice how many meetings and events with young people, youth organizations are on youth issues um that you've had in conjunction with the minister um and where those have occurred um including any that have occurred in Queensland. I'm particularly interested in a Queensland context as a Queensland senator. Uh Minister, do you have any views with respect to the youth