Page 1183 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 9 April 2008
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are in growing into responsible young adults. Mentoring has been a time-honoured way of helping young people to develop. I commend Menslink for the work that it does and continues to do.
The workers in Menslink are absolutely passionately committed to supporting young men, to mentoring young men and to improving the outcomes for young men. When we look at issues particular to young boys, we know that there are higher rates of youth suicide amongst young men and worse educational outcomes in some sectors. We also know about things like deaths on our roads where young men are over-represented. Menslink aims to really get behind some of these young men so that we do not see the kind of outcomes that unfortunately are a reality in our community.
The other organisation that supports young people that I want to pay tribute to is Karinya House, which performs a really important role in support accommodation and care for pregnant or parenting young people. It is a very practical response and support to young women who find themselves pregnant. Those of us who are parents know all the difficulties that are associated with having children, but, for most of us who have that family support, that is what we rely on so much. Karinya House provides the support where families are not able to provide that support. I pay tribute to work that they do in supporting young women and in giving them better outcomes for both them and their children.
Mr Speaker, I conclude and thank Ms Porter, again, for bringing forward this motion. It is an important discussion. When we talk about youth services and our young people, it is important that we broaden the discussion not just to what government does but also to what government can facilitate or support in various ways. There are countless organisations in our community that are committed to supporting young people in various ways. I have highlighted the work of just a few of them, and I pay tribute to the work that they do. I once again thank Ms Porter for the motion and encourage the government to continue to get behind these organisations so that we do see better outcomes for our young people into the future.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (11.51): I too would like to thank Ms Porter for moving this motion. I really appreciate the opportunity to stand here today and talk about what young people are doing for themselves and what we can do to assist them to do things for themselves. There is absolutely no doubt that young people have got fantastic ideas. They know what they want to do. They also have the ability to organise things, but very frequently they need more resources in order to do it. That is what I celebrate about this motion: it indicates the government is behind young people and their activities and I want to see that carried through in everything it does—not just in Youth Week but in every service that impacts upon young people.
Before I consider the government initiatives and the work that is yet to be done, I, like Mr Seselja, want to pay tribute to all the community organisations who work with children and young people. Some of these groups do not have young people specifically in their title because, of course, young people are part of every group. I am thinking of organisations that are specifically for young people like the scouts and the guides, who do incredible work in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, taking kids outdoors for activities where they are safe. I always really enjoy going to events that
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