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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (2 April) . . Page.. 1291 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

outside the Belconnen library at 3.00 pm this Saturday and see what the artistic young people of Belconnen can do.

The theme for the event, "What's good for your mind", shows the emphasis that is being placed by many in the youth sector on the mental health of young people and youth resilience. It is a sad fact that youth suicide in the ACT has doubled in the last seven years and the incidence of teenage depression is at epidemic levels. About one in seven children and young people will experience mental health problems in the next six months. That makes it as common as asthma.

Whilst we can wear board shorts to work and have fun, as many did last Friday, with National Boardshorts Day, it was for a serious cause-to help organisations such as Here for Life help Australia's young people, because they need the resources to be able to reach out to many in the community who are feeling that they just can't cope any more.

When I have met with the school groups that visit us in the Assembly, I have had young people come up to me and ask for help, despairing that the support offered in schools isn't real enough, that what they are learning does not actually help them with the everyday problems that they are facing. This is a real problem that needs real solutions. We need to empower young people so that they are able to help themselves.

Statistics show that young people get most of their information off other young people. So, if we can start the cycle right and help young people help themselves, they will help each other and, hopefully, it will build for a stronger community and a community where more of our young people want to stay around.

Another startling fact that came from the 2002 youth poll sponsored by Senator Stott Despoja revealed that 53 per cent of respondents know a young person who has attempted or committed suicide. Further, an increasing number of Australia's youth are trying drugs: 44 per cent of respondents have tried marijuana and 15 per cent have tried amphetamines or hallucinogens, such as ecstasy, LSD or speed. These risk-taking activities are symptoms of deeper problems. We need to start teaching resilience so that we can start to turn these number around.

Ms MacDonald mentioned the initiatives that the government presented in last year's budget for the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services. Unfortunately, in last year's budget we had a huge cut to the resources that were made available to the youth sector as we focused on education. I must clearly state that the youth sector cannot suffer another cut like that. I know that the next budget is going to be tight, but we do need to support our youth sector. We cannot just sweep them under the carpet and say that they are people who do not vote, because they are people who are part of our community and what they think and feel is very real. We need to support them, otherwise they will not want to be part of this community.

One thing that comes through again and again in talking to young people is that they are concerned about their future, that they are not able to have a say in their future, that because they are young nobody cares what they think now and what they think of the future. They see grown-ups making a mess of their world, which is why we have so many young people who are willing to take a stand against the war. They do not want to move into a world where war is the answer. They want to find another solution and they

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