Dear AYAC Members and Supporters,
We hope you had a safe and enjoyable break and a good start to the new year. We are excited to bring you this update on AYAC’s activities and plans for 2021!
2020 AGM
Thank you to all of you who attended or supported our Annual General Meeting on 9 December 2020. We acknowledged the contribution of Lucy Thomas (Project Rockit); Tania Hunt (Youth Network of Tasmania) and Pam Barker (National Youth Coalition Housing) who stepped down from the Board during the year. We were pleased that our interim Board Directors (Sonia Arakkal - Think Forward; Sarah Ramantanis - UN Youth; and Justin Barker - ACT Youth Coalition) all decided to stand and were elected. We also welcomed Isabelle Franklin to the Board as an independent; bringing her insights and experience from both government and the non-government sectors.
At the AGM, we also reflected on our remarkable progress towards our three longstanding key objectives:
- Appointment of a Youth Minister (achieved)
- Development of a National Youth Policy (almost achieved)
- Funding AYAC as the national voice for young people (now more fully achieved since the AGM).
Share, Coordinate Shape project
We also noted the strong sector engagement during 2020 through the COVID-19 Sector Working Group and marked by the Share, Coordinate Shape project. This project coordinated our initial COVID-19 response messaging to Government and later informed our analysis and advocacy briefing shared in our Post Budget Response. Once again we acknowledge the critical and considerable support, guidance and insight provided by the sector and young people.
Youth Advocacy Support Grants - National Youth Policy Project
We welcomed the government’s announcement of the Youth Advocacy Support Grants in August 2020, particularly pleased to see investment from the Commonwealth into strengthening young people's capacity to contribute to policy-making processes. This grant program, for a National Youth Policy Project, is the first from the Commonwealth in many years to focus on empowering Australia’s young people to influence policy. It is also discrete funding for a national youth peak. We commend Government for this initiative and we were thrilled to successfully secure funding to lead the National Youth Policy Project in 2021. We believe this represents important recognition of AYAC as the national youth advocacy peak. We have signed a funding agreement and have followed this up with a submission to Treasury that this should be continued for a further three years to build on AYAC’s work to date and our work over the next six months.
We look forward to engaging with young people across Australia and working with the other project partners in the months ahead; Create Foundation; YMCA; Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN); Little Dreamers; NT Council of Social Services (NCOSS); Children & Young People with Disability (CYDA) and yourtown.
Youth Engaging with Government
In the final weeks of 2020, we worked closely with the Youth Taskforce to bring young people together for consultation with Minister Colbeck. This was an important opportunity for young people to share with the then Minister for Youth, the impact that COVID-19 has had on their lives in 2020 and how it will continue to shape their aspirations into the future. There was also a vibrant discussion about the most effective mechanisms for engaging with government and processes for influencing Australian government policy on youth affairs across portfolios.
New Minister for Education and Youth – welcome Minister Tudge
Before we could take a breath, we welcomed the announcement of a new Youth Minister. In a significant development for the sector, Alan Tudge became the Minister for Education and Youth and for the first time in over a decade, the portfolio of Youth was awarded to a Cabinet Minister.
AYDI
We are also looking forward to the release of the Australian Youth Development Index (AYDI) Report. With comprehensive state and territory data and analysis, the AYDI will provide a picture of progress on youth development in Australia across a range of domains. It will make a significant contribution to addressing a gap in youth development data in Australia.
Recruitment
Over the weeks ahead we will be recruiting two staff members, as a Policy and Advocacy Manager and a Project Officer, to roll out the National Youth Policy Project. Both job opportunities are available here on our website.
Exciting times indeed!
And on top of all this, we have entered a new relationship with the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVIC), who will provide logistical support to AYAC for the National Youth Policy Project; the Board is developing a leadership transition plan so that our interim Co-Chairs can hand over to a strong and supported leadership team and we will be engaging in a strategic planning process to guide AYAC into the future.
We look forward to an exciting 2021!
Warm regards,
Co-Chairs, Nadine Liddy & James McDougall
James McDougall – james.mcdougall@acu.edu.au M: 0419 243 179
Nadine Liddy – nadine@myan.org.au M: 0437 897 178
AYAC Board Directors:
Co-Chairs - Nadine Liddy and James McDougall
Deputy Chair - Caitlin Figuereido
Treasurer - Ross Wortham
Sarah Ramantanis
Sonia Arrakal
Katherine Ellis
Justin Barker
Isabelle Franklin
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