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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (2 April) . . Page.. 1292 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

want to be heard. I urge all of us, as community leaders, to listen to our young people, to get involved with National Youth Week, show our support and see if we can find an answer to the question: what's it to you?

MS TUCKER (8.16): Youth Week is a growing national event. It is still driven largely by community organisations in the youth sector and primarily funded by government agencies with youth interests, such as the ACT Department of Education, Youth and Family Services and the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. However, over the past few years, as the event has grown, more sponsors and participants have come on board.

In addition to stalwart youth organisations such as the youth centres, Young Carers, Canberra Youth Theatre, 2XX and the Youth Coalition itself participating, we now have Ronin Films, FM104, Epimedia and many more contributing in Canberra and, nationally, sponsors such as Commonwealth Bank, Girlfriend magazine, Triple J and ninemsn.

This reflects the growing capacity of youth sector organisations to build their activities into the mainstream and the increasing awareness of the work of the youth sector really does touch on the very situations that most young people face, including issues relating to sexual, cultural and religious identity and questions of health, poverty, education, housing and the law.

Given the quality and value of the work that goes on in the youth sector, given the importance to our social health of young people, who are on the whole positive, energetic, expressive and constructive, and given that Youth Week in part promotes and in part reflects this work and these values, this Assembly clearly ought to support the youth week celebrations. I am sure that it will.

In noting the importance of youth support programs, I remind the Assembly that it was the youth sector alone which had to carry a cut in indexation last year. While other community organisations, even those funded by the Department of Education, Youth and Family Services, received an increase in general grants or more than 3 per cent, the youth sector received 1 per cent.

I also remind the Assembly that, in the context of a revitalised commitment by this government to young people at risk of unsatisfactory educational outcomes, a number of successful innovative programs linking such students to support and activity in the youth sector failed to gain expected funding. What has happened to them? Furthermore, there are ongoing problems of poor quality facilities, overcrowded buildings, exploding public liability and other insurance costs, and increased wage costs.

Whilst Youth Week is, indeed, a fine event, well coordinated by the Youth Coalition of the ACT, the youth sector will judge us by how well we support them in this budget cycle. I quote from the document attached to the Youth Coalition's budget submission:

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