Canberra’s future leaders on the issues affecting our youth

Posted on 3 October, 2019

Newly appointed Co-Chair of the Youth Advisory Council, Shaylah McClymont, writes about her hopes for Canberra’s future.

When I think about the kind of Canberra I want to live in, I picture a city where young people’s opinions and ideas are valued.

A city where young people have the opportunity to be politically engaged and are able to make a meaningful contribution to the community.

As new Co-Chair of the Youth Advisory Council, bringing this vision of Canberra to life is my mission.

The Youth Advisory Council is a peak body of young people aged 12-25 who advise government and community on the views of young Canberrans. We act as advocates for those who would otherwise be overlooked in city planning and government policy, and facilitate interactions between young people, the ACT Government and the wider community.

Alongside my fellow co-chair Dhani Gilbert (pictured left), we lead a council that endeavours to achieve the best outcomes for young Canberrans across our four priority areas, Environment and Sustainability, Civic Participation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and Health and Wellbeing as well as in other topical areas for young people in the ACT.

Dhani and I are privileged and excited to have this opportunity to not only lead the council but also to shape Canberra into the city we want to see.

The Youth Assembly was held in September 2018 and the resulting ACT 2018 Youth Assembly report gave 29 recommendations from young people to government, most of which were accepted and will be implemented over the next few years.

As a result of recommendations from the report, funding has been secured for the development of youth homelessness services for young people aged 9-15 years. This funding will assist to close an identified service gap for this cohort.

As well as this, federal funding was secured for the development of a mental health service portal, co-designed by the Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing and Mental Illness Education ACT, with the Council playing a key role in the design and consultation for the portal. The portal will function with the aim of strengthening access to mental health services for young people and their families in the ACT.

The next ACT Youth Assembly will be held in 2020.

We are so lucky to be living in a time where young people are able to effectively advocate for positive social change. We see it with climate marches, women’s marches, refugee marches. Now more than ever, we are in a really good place to be able to enact change.

While in this role my goal is simple—pave the way for young Canberrans to have meaningful input on policy and programs across the ACT because at the end of the day it’s our future and we should be the ones who shape it.

Feature image: (L-R) Dhani Gilbert and Shaylah McClymont. Image supplied.