One in five Australians are under 25 and make an enormous contribution to Australia's economy, our culture and our nation.
From designers like RM Williams, who was 24 when he designed his famous elastic-sided boots for stockmen, to the artists and musicians who have challenged and entertained us, and athletes who lift our nation's pride. And every young person studying and working is vital to our economic recovery and future prosperity.
Growing up has its challenges.
As I've visited hospitals around the country to discuss health reform, medical staff have told me we need to do better for young people.
One in four young Australians aged between 16 and 24 have experienced mental health disorders in the previous 12 months, yet only a quarter of young people receive professional help.
Obesity is on the rise. The proportion of overweight and obese Australian children in the 5-17 age-group has increased from about 21% in 1995 to about 25% in 2007-08.
We're all concerned about street violence - often the result of one drink too many. Assaults have almost doubled since 1995 with young males and females aged between 15 and 24 having the highest rate of being victims of assault. About one in five men and one in six women aged between 18 and 24 drink alcohol to dangerous levels at least once a week.
Policies and programs for young Australians are spread across a whole lot of different government and community organisations, making it hard to get information and get involved. Health services and other youth programs are not always designed around young people's lives. It can be difficult to work out who to go to for help.
You have already told us some things that would make a difference. Making it easier to get information, creating public spaces designed by and for young people, and providing more help to those who need it before problems get worse are just a few of the themes coming out of the Australian Youth Forum and the 2020 Youth Summit last year.
The Government is developing a plan for young Australians - with young Australians - so that all young Australians are safe, healthy, confident and resilient, with the skills and supports they need to build their own futures.
To get us rolling, I want to hear from you what matters most - at home, at school, online and out in the community.
If you were Prime Minister for a day - what would you do to:
- help our young people grow up safe, happy and resililient
- give young people the skills they need to learn, work and fully engage in community life ?
- reduce the physical and mental health risks facing young Australians, including negative body image, anxiety and depression, obesity and alcohol-fuelled violence?
- enable young people to accept responsibility for their actions and their behaviours?
- help young people to negotiate the challenges of today's society?
I would like to see early intervention or early learning for kids and high school students in the way of health and physical education. If we can get kids in a good habit of good physical and mental well being when they are young. Hopefully that will follow through to adulthood and we can start reversing our dangerous trend of obesity in the country, especially early life obesity.
It is fair to say that a majority of children don't get good healthy wellbeing habits from home anymore. And even though the age we live in, with technology and modern travel is absolutely fantastic it is one cause that kids generally do not get enough physical exercise. I'm all for increasing the Australian learning standards to make sure everybody is reaching the minimum standards in education. And education and higher education is so more important these days for employment than say 20 years ago. But along with rising the bar in getting kids smarter something had to give and that something has for the most part has been physical education.
I think something very important was said in the movie Super Size Me when Morgan Spurlock talked with medical professionals, one of them about how there is increasing pressure for students to become smarter and more educated than ever before. But then he also said about we might then have a country of a lot of smart kids who are fat, which is a fair point to consider. Now Australia is a fair way behind America in terms of obesity but we are still on the upward trend of obesity than reversing it. One small initiative which would be great to see is to have PE homework as in you need to find fifteen minutes tonight to do go for a walk – skip – ride your bike, we get all other homework why can’t we have PE homework too. Food for thought, thankyou for the opportunity to be heard - Kevin Bell 25 Y.O
not quite related as such, but k-rudd, you need to smarten up your internet censorship plans.
"The Government's plan to censor the internet will miss the vast majority of content it is designed to filter while costing Australian tax payers millions of dollars. In addition, previous trials have shown that the Government's system will inadvertently block legitimate sites."
this doesn't sound too attractive... it seems a lot more work is needed before you even consider implementing such measures..
Your concerns are shared by many, and I am inclined to add to that that it's really no concern of the Government's what people choose to view. Does not 'A Clockwork Orange' argue the case that it's worse to be good by lack of choice than it is to be bad of your own freewill?
I also think that it's worth pointing out that those people who really wish to view 'illicit' content, and who spend a lot of time dealing with it will have worked out how to evade your shield before it's even working. So to what ends are these millions of dollars being squandered? A glorified Net Nanny for the Australian Populace, wrapping their freedom of information round the little finger of your every whim?
Unless this is part of some grand plan to plunge your nation into totalitarianism, which I believe, and sincerely hope, is not the case, I recommend you walk away now before too much damage is done.
Or maybe the censors of the blog will make sure that this is brushed under the carpet, safely out of sight? I really have no idea what to expect from a man such as yourself.
I agree. Internet censorship is something that will hinder children rather than helping them. Contravertial issues may be incredibly hard to research, and so how can anyone develop a political opinion if they are not allowed to see what the opposing arguments are? I think the internet censorship goes against our ideals of democracy, and the "true" purpose of it, to block child pornography, would be better dealt with by spending the money on helping the police track down the offenders and cutting off the problem at the roots.
Definitely agreed. Internet censorship in order to block child pornography is not going to work. Apart from slowing net speeds by up to 80%, there is no way that a filter would be able to block everything as this is the ever-changing mercury-nature Internet we're talking about. Also, what's to stop child pornographers bypassing a filter with peer-to-peer networks (to name just one method)? Using an Internet filter to block child pornography is about as effective as trying to prevent art theft by disabling right click, the filter just has too many loopholes to be effective.
Kevin,
In the suburb where I live right now (Sydney's northern suburbs), childhood obesity is nowhere as rampant as what the media would have us believe. There are plenty of kids doing 'PE homework' (or extra-curricular activities) - kids who go for soccer, dancing, scouts/guides (which also include many physical activities) and are still seen in their 'gear' long after school hours.
And just because they are 'active', it doesn't necessarily mean they don't concentrate at all on their academic pursuits (many of the 'north shore' kids do really well in the HSC, and some of them even top the NSW scores and make it into the universities of their choice)
Perhaps my suburb and area is just a small 'microcosm' of Australian society, but it is proof there are kids out there who happen to like sport and will continue to do so.
Violence on our streets does not stem from people drinking it stems from the fact that people do not care for one another these days, we need to put in place more education on RESPECT, having pride in oneself and community values.
This education needs to occur at the start of secondary school and continue on til the end of year 12.
Christian 24 Y.O
It needs to start way before that and also at home too, not just at school.
I agree with Christian. I think that calling it alcohol-fuelled violence takes responsibility away from the perpetrator. The fact is that violence is too "normal" in our society. Its "normal" to hear about a couple of guys getting in a fight over the weekend. Its "normal" to see guys on the footy field pushing and shoving. Its not rare to hear of a guy being violent with his girlfriend.
People have got to know that its not ok. People need to be taught about the dangers of violence, eg, that you can kill someone with one punch. A lot of the time the police don't even bother getting involved if an assault has occurred between people that know each other. We need harsher penalties for assaults. A few months is not enough and getting away with it 5 or 10 times before actually ending up in jail is ridiculous. (Not that I think our prison system is great)
I think the media also has a huge effect. There is violence on TV every night and there are fights nearly every time you watch a rugby or footy game.
Alcohol only makes people more confident and carefree, it doesnt make people violent. The violent person was already violent before the alcohol. We need to change the way society percieves violence for there to be change. We have made small changes over the past decade, eg. with domestic violence, so its possible, we just need to keep working at it.
Thanks for the opportunity to have my say Mr. Rudd. I really appreciate your efforts to listen to the public.
Laura-25yrs
The biggest role that Government can play in supporting Youth is through Early Childhood Education. By laying a solid foundation of learning, knowledge and positive social interaction a Child can be set on a good path for the future.
Any measures the Government can make in supporting Early Childhood Education will make the greatest of differences in the lives of the next generation.
Davis.