Video Transcript
An Introduction to the AYF
[Music and graphics to introduce the AYF branding]
Hugh Evans: All Across Australia, young people are shaping the future of our great nation. They believe that change is possible, and that we can be a generation that really tackles some of the greatest moral and social challenges of our time.
[Images of school children and young people interacting]
Hugh McKay: You’ve grown up in this rather turbulent period of social and cultural and economic and technological revolution and you’ve adapted to it…
[Images of people, technology and transport across the country]
Now is the time to prove you have something to offer - that you are ready to create a more cooperative and less competitive society; that you are prepared to show us how to live in a more communitarian and less individualistic society; that you know how to put material values in their place, that you know how to think globally, but act locally.
[Hugh McKay addressing young people zooms to image of the world, zooms to image of Australia, zooms to image of Parliament House and young people interacting]
Kate Ellis: What we are looking at doing is pretty big in the context of youth engagement in public discussion in government, in making sure that young Australians have a seat at the table and are taken seriously by government…
[Images of young people interacting at Parliament House]
We hope that this is just the beginning of youth engagement in serious political discussion, and serious discussion about Australia’s future. It’s very important that we talk about the challenges before us, that we talk about our ideas, that we talk about our vision. But it’s also really important that we get some action that comes out of this. We can do amazing things for having young people involved, but we can also do amazing things for the future of Australia.
[Images of young people in discussions and Hugh Evans addressing a group]
Hugh Evans: The critical point is that ideas matter. Words contribute significantly to the challenges before us. Dialogue defines us. A powerful idea can radically change our nation’s future. I know for certain that the future does not belong to those who coast along but those who reach out to the challenges ahead of us with new ideas and pursue them with unbounded energy.
Kate Ellis: We’re marking the new way in which we are involving young people in our decision making processes in the highest levels of government in policy making because we believe for far too long that young people have not been empowered to take their rightful place amongst decision makers in this country.
[Images of young people in discussion]
Kate Ellis: We think that you have a key role as leaders right now, that we want you to step up and take that place right now. That this will be a government that gives young people a seat at the table. And we want to ensure that your voices are heard and that your issues are firmly placed on our agenda. You have a unique grasp of the challenges for a significant portion of the population both now, and into the future. You bring perspectives that may have been overlooked. You champion ideas that may never have surfaced. You see possibilities where other people may just see problems, and you have a passion and determination to make sure that the future will be the best possible version because ultimately, you have the most at stake in ensuring this. We want to shine a spotlight on the positive things that young Australians are already doing and that starts here.
[The Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd addressing young people]
Kevin Rudd: When we say we’ve opened the windows of government to bring in ideas from the community – we’re serious. When we say we opened the windows of government to hear what youth has to say – we’re actually dead serious, because if the nation is to go forward, we’ve all basically got to be on the same bus. Thank you for your passion for our nation, Australia’s future.
[Ends]
