update: May 2008
YAPA, and other members of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC), are calling on young people and youth services to urge the new Federal Minister for Youth, Ms Kate Ellis, to move quickly to reinstate funding for AYAC as the national peak body for youth affairs.
Currently the Minister is conducting consultations and receiving submissions on a proposed new forum for young Australians to have a voice to government. According to the Minister, the new Australian Youth Forum replaces the National Youth Roundtable and will offer broader opportunity and scope for young people from across Australia to have their views heard by the Federal Government.
The Australian Youth Forum Discussion Paper is now available for your response. The consultation period is open to 30 May 2008. As part of this consultation a series of meetings will also be held around Australia. There is more detail at www.thesource.gov.au/involve/ayf.asp
To help you write a short letter to the Minister, YAPA has provided:
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YAPA template letter for you to modify and send on behalf of your agency:
* Word RTF version
* PDF version
Your letter can be short and it can be on paper or an email, but it must get to the Minister by Friday 30 May.
Background
from YAPRap March 2008
by Reynato Reodica, YAPA Executive Officer
YAPA, and other members of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC), are calling on young people and youth services to urge the new Federal Minister for Youth, Ms Kate Ellis, to move quickly to reinstate funding for AYAC as the national peak body for youth affairs.
Australia has been without a funded national youth peak since 1998. After almost a decade of policies that have increasingly marginalised young Australians, there is much work to be done.
This includes working to ensure that important issues for young people are put back on the government agenda, perspectives from young people and services who work with them are taken into account in decisions that affect them and adequate support is provided to youth services across the country.
So far, the Government has committed to “an independent youth peak body which will bring together youth representatives and youth workers to discuss, advocate and provide feedback to the Minister for Youth and the Government about how Commonwealth policies affect young people.” (Tanya Plibersek, Speech to the National Youth Affairs Conference, Melbourne, 3 May 2007).
YAPA believes that the most efficient and effective means to achieve these ends is for the Federal Government to provide ongoing funding to AYAC, rather than to create an entirely new body.
AYAC, and its existing membership and structure, provides the best base upon which the Government can begin to work with young people and the youth sector, to address the substantial neglect suffered under the previous Government.
AYAC has a diverse representation across the country, unrivalled networks of young people and youth services, youth participation at all levels in its structure and the recognition and respect from the youth sector around Australia.
With funding and further consultation with young people and services, YAPA believes that AYAC will quickly develop into a most effective, useful and responsive voice for all young Australians.
To give your support to the campaign for an independent, national youth affairs peak, contact the Minister’s office via fax on (08) 8269 2488 or email Kate.Ellis.MP@aph.gov.au.
Minister Ellis has also stated that she will be conducting consultations with young people and the youth sector across Australia during 2008. This would be another great opportunity to individuals and organisations to raise the need for timely and appropriate funding for AYAC.
More information
If you are interested in finding out more about AYAC or becoming more involved, please see:
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Federal Labor Government promises for young people
www.yapa.org.au/youth/latest/promisesfederal.php
