Video Transcript
National Conversation - PM's address transcript
PM: G’Day,
Today’s young Australians are growing up in a different time to most
of us here in Canberra.
Ellis: In your lifetime, issues like climate change and terrorism
are spoken about daily and technologies like Twitter and YouTube are
almost second nature to you. Most of you probably wouldn’t remember
a time when you didn’t have a computer in your family home.
PM: Because of this you’re facing a whole lot of emerging
challenges, like cyber bullying, challenges that my generation and
those before me aren’t so familiar with, in fact, not really
familiar at all. And you have to deal with all of this on top of the
challenges that young people have always confronted, including
serious health matters like mental illness.
You’ve told us that you’re concerned about the levels of violence.
Too often young people are the victims as well as the perpetrators
of violent assaults - and so often the result of just one drink too
many. Every one of us must take responsibility for our actions.
That’s the hallmark of what’s called a civil society. That’s why
I’ve asked the Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor to work
with federal and state police ministers with the advice of police
commissioners to identify how we can best tackle youth violence on
our streets. And I intend to take their advice to state and
territory leaders at our meeting this December.
We can do better, we must do better. We must do better to make our
streets safe for everyone to enjoy.
Ellis: There are so many young people out there that are leading the
way in tackling local, national and global challenges. And not only
challenges that are facing young people, but challenges which are
being faced by the nation as a whole. And it’s pretty inspirational.
Just this week I met with Youth Decide, who are doing some great
work when it comes to raising awareness of climate change and
engaging with thousands of young Australians to get their message
out.
PM: That’s absolutely right Kate, I’ve also had the pleasure of
meeting groups like Step Back Think and the crowd at High Resolves
who are other great examples of young people taking initiatives to
help other young people shape their own futures and the futures of
the communities in which they live.
That’s why I want to lay down an annual challenge to young
Australians to come up with their own ideas about how to mobilise
young people in their communities. The PM’s Australian Youth Forum
Challenge will make a hundred and twenty thousand dollars available
in grants for young people who get creative about how to get young
people active and involved in their local community life or in great
national projects or even international projects.
I’m also pleased to announce the government will provide ten million
dollars for the development of five arts, business and community
centres to encourage young entrepreneurship and community based
activities. I want young people to get excited about building up
their own businesses, starting with their own small business. This
is one of the top ten ideas coming out of the Youth 2020 Summit, and
I’m really pleased to now see it becoming a reality. Today I
announced on my web chat that Kate and I are going to be announcing
a National Strategy for Young Australians. And while we are, and
will continue to be tackling all of the challenges facing young
Australians in the Parliament, as young people you have a different
perspective and perhaps some new ideas about how to address these
problems at the local level. And that’s a fantastic thing.
Ellis: This National Strategy for Young Australians is going to be
created for young Australians, but also by young Australians -
because as a government we’re serious about engaging with young
people. We recognise that you aren’t just the decision makers of the
future, but in fact, you’re already decision makers right now,
today.
PM: So, get online, get on the phone, get to one of the forums or
roundtables that are being held all around the country from today
and have your say. Get all your ideas into Kate here, she’s a little
younger than I am, and I’ll tell you what, she’s going to be very
active on your collective behalf. But we need your ideas to make a
difference for your future.
Thanks for listening.
