-
Anonymous -
submitted 2/12/2009
Mandatory volunteer work/community service during high school.
Promoting activities that boost young peoples' self esteem.
Education in high school on life skills, particularly managing money.
Bringing back technical schools, to encourage people with skills outside of schools.
Education of indigenous history and culture in schools
-
Anonymous -
submitted 2/12/2009
Better restrictions on games (particularly video games) that are obscenely violent - bring in an R rating, so that really young people cannot be part of that.
Providing or encouraging alternative parties to simply parties with lots and lots of alcohol.
In high school, strength finding tests to build up the self esteem of young people in a positive way.
Tighter restrictions on pornography on the internet - it is way too easy for young people to get onto that material.
More drug squads at parties and festivals!!
-
Anonymous -
submitted 2/12/2009
Providing adequate and accessible youth allowance - a quality system that is reliable.
Encouraging young people to work - via work experience or during studies - rather than it being almost a penalty at the moment having to juggle it amongst everything. Working allows you to grow and develop in a positive and useful way.
Ensuring that counseling is accessible to all young people.
Making it more pronounced that government incentives are available for young people who are taking an initiative on caring for the environment. Marketing it in a fashion that makes it 'cool'.
Opportunities for young people to be involved with community activities (marketing it better!)
-
Anonymous -
submitted 2/12/2009
Different programs to allow people to make their hobbies more useful in the community. Eg. Graffiti, car racing etc. Giving them opportunities to explore their interests in a safe environment.
Appreciating the spectrum of skills seen in young people - not simply encouraging academicaly gifted students but also those with creative talents or other things like that. As not not discourage them from their unique abilities.
Tailoring education towards the specific capabilities of each child - those who would struggle with maths could focus on other subjects and become knowledgeable in a certain area that could help them once they've finished school.
Having spaces and events available for young people to hang out, instead of being bored and potentially destructive
-
Anonymous -
submitted 2/12/2009
Cyber bullying - tackling it harder - being more creative and finding an effective solution to really stop it.
Focus in schools on social justice -
encouraging volunteer work
Non violence training in schools. Yoga and mediation
Indigenous education in all schools (history
Having chaplains of all faiths in schools - supportive and non-judgmental people available to talk.
-
Sally -
submitted 25/11/2009
I would like to see a national strategy on greater student participation in school decision making. Also at a national level I believe serious consideration should be given to the development of policy which provides for restorative practices in schools to be prioritized within school discipline procedures. It could be all part of a national strategy to put responsibility back on to the students for the safety of school environments and school cultures which are conducive to education for all, and to develop democratic values and principles, by 'doing' rather than just 'teaching' citizenship. There is much discussion surrounding school exclusion rates and problems faced by schools with bullying and disruptive students but the solutions suggested generally are based on retributive rather than restorative principles and there is now, particularly in the US, research pointing strongly to the 'schoolyard to jailyard track'. I believe that a proactive approach based on the UNCROC right to
participation together with the restorative justice principles being used in the criminal justice system must be a path worthy of being led nationally.
-
Anonymous -
submitted 24/11/2009
Bring back conscription for repeat offenders, unemployed, at risk etc. A melbourne youth worker from 20thman is trying to bring conscription back in. All in favour should be more proactive and support this man as with many other important issues instead of sitting around whinging how things are getting worse! This in turn will raise the number of skilled workers with in Australia, this should decrease the need for our government(s) to encourage that of immigrants, also the number of crimes. With the way our current justice system and world is it can only help...The cost of this is only minor in comparison to the detention centres, courts, child protection, housing, damages etc costs which are evidently not working...
-
Karen -
submitted 21/11/2009
Improved mental health services for young people is a must. For 15 years as a criminal defence solicitor, I have worked extensively with juveniles and young adults who've come in contact with the criminal justice system because of mental disorders. Those who have family support and/or resources often manage to get diagnosed and treated correctly and are unlikely to reoffend.
It is almost impossible to achieve the same result for the majority (those mostly from lower socio-economic backgrounds). As a result, re-offending and often incarceration can be the short term and long term result. Please, we need more resources to deal with this very importantly issue effectively, for the benefit of the young people and the wider community ! Spending money at this end, instead of at the other end (eg by building new gaols), is bound to be a better investment in Australia's future. Did you know it costs around $150K p.a. to house a juvenile in a NSW detention centre !
-
Carol Kefford -
submitted 21/11/2009
Adolescence is a great time of life to learn all our life skills including skills for looking after our physical, mental and emotional health and gaining all-round well-being. Helping young people to learn about preventing ongoing health problems is one of the ways GPs can help young people. However, young people and GPs need ways to improve the quality of their relationship by GPs having the time to give young people the care they need without it costing too much
-
NSW CAAH -
submitted 20/11/2009
Prevention and advancing youth health through General Practitioners
Investing in young people’s health is an important way to improve our population’s health. For young people, accidents and injury, mental health difficulties, substance use and sexually transmitted infections are the biggest health issues. These affect young people today, but they can also have life long effects.
Primary care, particularly general practice, is at the centre of health service delivery for youth in this country–approximately 70% of young people aged 12-24 years visit a GP at least once a year. This presents an enormous opportunity for screening young people for risky behaviours and mental health disorders and responding with appropriate interventions.
Young people say that they would welcome the opportunity to discuss health issues such as contraception, sexually transmitted infections, diet and exercise and substance use with health care providers and trust their advice (and their parents also want this). However, GPs experience barriers to providing early and preventive intervention because of time pressures, inadequate remuneration, training, skills and confidence in responding, as well as the often limited availability of support from other services.
Given that most first episodes of mental illness and first uptake of health risk behaviours occur during adolescence, a Medicare model for annual preventive health checks is essential for those aged 12-24 yrs.