Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Most of us in this parliament are more than halfway through our lives, yet we make decisions that affect all of the young people just starting their adult lives and decisions that will affect all of their children and those that will come after them. Yet there are no voices in this place that directly represent young people, the generation directly affected by the social contracts that we are establishing in parliament today.

In 2013, the Liberal Party, under Tony Abbott, scrapped the Minister for Youth Affairs, but we should not let that decision silence the voice of youth—particularly, for me, the voices of the amazing young people in the Parramatta electorate. Launching Youth Week in April, I made a commitment to deliver at least one speech in parliament written by a young person every sitting week for two months. It is here that I will share their concerns, their requests and their challenges to us in parliament, the body responsible for shaping the Australia of tomorrow—their Australia. Already, many young people in my electorate have submitted speeches and I'm inspired and challenged by their resilience, strength and commitment to making the world a better place.

As it stands, young people are understandably disillusioned with the Australian government. Youth unemployment is at the highest it's been in four decades and mental illness is on the rise, with 51 per cent of high school students identifying a need to see a mental health professional. Young people are met with an uncertain job market and shrinking educational opportunities, and the likelihood of buying a house feels like a dream. Unfortunately in this country, young people are often seen as a cost rather than the asset that they are. The reality is that the next three generations are going to carry the entire country and its economy into the next century, and we here, for the most part, won't be alive to see them do it. Only 11 per cent of us in parliament are under the age of 40.

The voice of youth has incredible power. We are seeing its full effect in the US. Children are taking to the streets, confronting the NRA and chastening politicians to change the gun laws and save the young lives that their government has long ignored. We saw it in Australia during the same-sex plebiscite, when 65,000 18-to-24-year-olds enrolled to vote, demonstrating the power of young people when engaged in political matters. We have seen it in full force in social enterprise. The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience was founded by a 19-year-old in 2005 and it now operates out of Australia, South Africa and Uganda, boasting over 25,000 graduates. Hireup, an organisation that gives people with disabilities the power to find, hire and manage their own home care and support workers, was founded by a 23-year-old in 2011 and has made over 4,700 connections Australia-wide, saving users over $3 million. In my own electorate, I saw Usman Iftikhar found Catalysr when he was just 25. It's is a start-up incubator for migrants and refugees in Australia and, since its launch in 2016, it's helped 66 migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to create 15 businesses. Usman is the Australian lead at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance, which is currently designing a G20-wide youth entrepreneurship visa and is working on a new SpaceTech start-up at Singularity University to tackle climate change. Usman was named the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year.

Our young people are contributing to our society, yet their influence and potential is recognised on global stages but not in the policy-shaping stage at home. Data mined from the Parramatta electorate shows that only 33 per cent of young people believe their opinions are accurately reflected in government policy, but 83 per cent are interested in learning more about how the government makes decisions. The reality is that young people are interested, but we, as Australia's leaders, are not providing adequate space for them to engage in the decision-making processes of government. So it's not surprising that they're a wee bit disengaged and jaded. They want to be involved, they care about the issues shaping their future, but, quite frankly, they don't always think that we in this parliament are worth their effort.

Bringing local youth voices into parliament is not the total solution, but it is a step. The United Arab Emirates have a minister for youth, 23-year-old, Shamma bint Suhail Faris Al Mazrui, who leads their youth national council, and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, appointed himself Minister for Youth in 2015. We can do much more in this House. The reality is that young people are clutching the pen that writes history. If we care about them and our future generations, we must hear them, support them and enable them to be stronger and more effective change-makers. Young people are going to be the ones grappling with the after-effects of environmental degradation, outdated institutions and infrastructure, not us. We have a government that doesn't always believe the future leaders are presently worth listening to or worth empowering to build a strong future, and for that we should all be deeply ashamed.

I look forward to sharing with you the voices of passionate young people in Parramatta. And I thank the very young Ruby for helping me write this speech.