The Wellspring

Progressive political movement GetUp! is looking for a new Executive Director. Current ED Brett Solomon (who, incidentally, founded the Oxfam International Youth Parliament) is moving on to Avaaz.org, which takes GetUp!’s online model to the international arena. Avaaz.org was co-founded by GetUp!’s creators.

GetUp! says they are looking for: “a gifted campaigner; a compelling public spokesperson; someone who is passionate about building a progressive country; a person prepared to take real risks and innovate.”

For further information and a position description, see http://www.getup.org.au/pages/hiring/. Applications close 25 July 2008.

The curiously-named Left Right bills itself as “Australia’s first independent, non-profit and non-partisan think-tank of young minds dedicated to the advancement of progressive ideas, discussion and policy.”

Launching in early 2009, Left Right will involve young people in the policy-making processes from their genesis in academia to their governmental implementation. “Members will conduct policy research and development in a professional, inclusive and supportive environment delivering proposals to the community as they are educated, trained and empowered as the next generation of leaders.”

Left Right is currently recruiting three key staffing positions on a part-time volunteer basis – a Policy Officer, an Operations Officer and an Executive Assistant. Each of these positions provides an opportunity for a young person to be involved in the foundational stages of an organisation with development and networking opportunities.

• The Policy Officer will provide high-level policy coordination and development across the organisation and establish the policy department.
• The Operations Officer will provide high-level strategic direction and management across the organisation and establish the operations department.
• The Executive Assistant will provide high-level services and support to the senior leadership and corporate governors of the organisation, including the Executive Director, CEO and the Board of Directors.

All positions are for a period of 12 months, commencing in early August 2008, with probationary periods of 3 months.

Applicants must be aged between 16 and 24 years old and preferably based in Victoria. Shortlisted applicants will be expected to be available for interviews and induction during the period of Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd August 2008 in Melbourne.

For further information, see http://www.leftright.org.au/. To register your interest, email a over letter and CV to recruiting@leftright.org.au.

Applications for these positions close at 5PM EST on Friday 25th July.

Kate Smith has posted an interesting article to YouthGAS that underscores the difficulty that many organisations have in administering an appropriate selection process for youth representative positions, resulting in some rather counter-intuitive outcomes. I’ve tried to contact Kate to discuss this with her in further detail, but haven’t received a response (Kate, if you’ve come upon this, contact me!). Here is her article in its entirety:

Youth for Youth?

How has one young Australian managed to hang onto the role of Australian ‘youth representative’ to the Pacific Youth Caucus, despite no longer being a ‘young person’? The United Nations definition of youth, is a person aged between 15-25 and Australian government has long followed this definition, which was recently demonstrated by the age cut off for invitations to the 2020 Youth Summit held in April this year.

The ego-centric nature of youth affairs often creates an ‘every man for himself’ attitude, where young people hoard opportunities to ‘represent’ their demographic at local, national and international events.
Matthew Albert and his continuing appointment as Australia’s Youth Representative to the Pacific Youth Caucus is exemplary of this. Albert has carefully hoarded an opportunity, which should have been passed onto to a ‘young’ person after he turned 25.

How can Albert, a practicing lawyer at the Supreme Court of Victoria, who will turn 28 in August this year, be said to represent young people in Australia?

The Rudd government has confirmed that Albert will remain in this quasi-diplomatic role, which he was appointed to during the Howard years, until 2009.

Since surpassing the age of 25, care of the Australian government, Albert has been flown to Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and New Zealand and Sri Lanka in his role as Australia’s representative to the Pacific Youth Caucus.

It is particularly interesting to note that Albert was not invited to attend the 2020 youth summit, presumably because he was over the age of 25. This is despite Albert going on to Sri Lanka a week later to represent Australian youth at the Commonwealth Youth Caucus.

Recently, Albert has been appointed within the Commonwealth youth body to the position of pan-Commonwealth Chair, a prestigious role in world youth political affairs.

In October this year, Albert is relocating to London, to complete a Masters degree at Oxford. From England, he will continue to represent Australian young people at Commonwealth regional and international levels.

Australian young people - what do you think?

Update (7 June 2008): Nukutau Pokura, the Chair of the Pacific Regional Youth Caucus, has responded to Kate Smith’s letter:

Dear Ms. Smith
Thank you for your concerns and although I cannot speak for the youth of Australia, I would like to make some clarifications as Chairperson of the Pacific Regional Youth Caucus (RYC) to the matter that you’ve raised especially from the viewpoint of the RYC and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) South Pacific (SP) Centre.

‘Youth’ as defined by the CYP constitute young women and men aged 15 – 29 years. Hence Mr. Albert is still eligible to be a member of the Pacific RYC. The re nomination of Mr. Albert to the RYC by the Australia government is the prerogative of the Australia government and falls within the normal selection criteria that all Commonwealth Governments of the world are expected to follow when selecting a RYC representative for their respective countries. This is clearly stated in the Handbook on Commonwealth Youth Representatives (Revised 2007) which reads,

“A Regional Youth Caucus Member is appointed for an initial term of two years and also be allowed to serve for another term of two years depending on their availability and willingness to serve as well as on a full assessment of their performance by the concerned member government and CYP regional centre.”

Your accusation of Mr. Albert ‘hoarding’ every opportunity for himself is considered by me as your right to your opinion but advice that you make the attempt to learn a bit more about what Mr. Albert has been doing for the young people of Australia since he became a member of the RYC even if his activities involve Sudanese migrants.

We the RYC members see Mr. Albert’s renomination differently; we see continuity, we see plans translating into activities that are actually completed and not half done plans and activities due to short appointments.

Finally we see a young person in CYP terms, being ‘empowered’ by the many opportunities that were facilitated for him (provision of enabling conditions for youth empowerment) by the CYP SP Centre in his RYC membership role.

Mr. Albert attended the Sri Lanka Meetings in a South Pacific regional capacity, specifically as the Pacific RYC’s nomination for the Pan Commonwealth Chairpersonship. The recent Pan Com chairperson and vice chairperson election in Sri Lanka was extra important to the South Pacific region because the Chair and Vice Chair positions were being rotated to the Pacific region for the next four years. This is the normal policy of the CYP that the four CYP regional centres of the world take turns in chairing the Pan Commonwealth Youth Caucus. Mr. Albert therefore did not attend as a representative of the Australia government although he had the blessing of the Australia government to contest for the Pan Commonwealth Chair on behalf of the Pacific RYC.

Mr. Albert never made a secret of his relocation to London this year and announced this in his ‘maiden’ speech immediately after his elections. His time in London is not viewed negatively by the RYC in fact he will be doing a lot more for the young people of the Pacific countries in terms of increased interaction with the CYP Pan Commonwealth Office in London on the many international matters that are expected to be implemented by the CYP regional centres and their respective RYCs. Mr. Albert will be able to provide clarity and provide directions on many of these to the South Pacific.

While Mr. Albert’s entry into the RYC has been as the Australia youth representative, there is an undocumented/silent expectation of Pacific countries that a major role of the two countries RYC members’ is to assist the smaller, poorer, more vulnerable states of the Pacific in accessing resources from Australia and New Zealand to assist the young people of the Pacific countries. This is also the general expectation of the governments of the Pacific Commonwealth countries to Australia and New Zealand.

If the youths of Australia are so disadvantaged, I suggest that you Ms. Smith should rally support from all the other young people of Australia to support Matthew in providing him with the national focus that you are so concerned about. All that we in the Pacific RYC know is that Matthew is performing that role very well. But as bystanders I strongly recommend that you forget about what may not have been and concentrate on creating a national environment that will support the work of Mr. Albert and provide him with the directions to serve you better.

Ms. Nukutau Pokura
RYC Chairperson.

The 2008 Fulbright Symposium will be held from 10-11 July at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide on the theme Healthy People, Prosperous Country.

The symposium will examine how to encourage whole-of-government action to promote health and wellbeing locally and nationally and explore ways in which existing inequities in the health status of different groups in the population can be addressed through broader social action. The Symposium will have a special focus on Indigenous issues.

The Emerging Leaders Forum will be one-day event held after the Symposium for 40 young and emerging leaders. The Forum will help participants learn from examples of action and reflect on what they might do to take action in their own communities.

It is anticipated that the participants will have a range of skills and backgrounds, and so the program delivery and content will be delivered in a participatory way based on expectations expressed by applicants prior to the Symposium.

For further information and to apply online, see http://som.flinders.edu.au/FUSA/PublicHealth/fulbright/emergingleaders.htm. Applications close 25 May 2008.

Limited financial support to facilitate attendance will be available.

The Youth Coalition of the ACT has released an excellent collation of Budget Measures Directly Related to Young People unveiled in last week’s Commonwealth Budget.

Two of the most exciting developments relating to youth affairs that didn’t get much of a run in the media include:

• An allocation of $8 million over four years for the Australian Youth Forum, the structure of which is currently being developed through a range of community consultations. With the National Youth Roundtable, its predecessor, having a budget of about half a million dollars, this is a sizable increase, and represents the successful culmination of nearly six years of lobbying by the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition. Documents outlining the reporting requirements for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations reveal that the Department expects the Australian Youth Forum to be “established by October 2008 as a voice to government for young people and the youth sector”. Nice!
• $6.9 million has been re-allocated towards the creation of an Office for Youth in the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, elevating the existing Youth Bureau to a higher-status Office.

Other youth-related developments that have received more press coverage include:

• Phasing out full fee-paying domestic undergraduate places at public universities: $249m over 4 years
• Doubling the number of Commonwealth Scholarships for higher education to 88 000 by 2012: a once-off $238.6m allocation
• Establishing a National Curriculum Board for Australian Schools to standardise curricula in English, Maths, the Sciences and History: $20m over 4 years
• Creation of an Education Investment Fund to fund the building of IT infrastructure, laboratories, libraries, teaching spaces, and critical student amenities in Australian universities: a once-off $500m allocation

Though not directly related, another interesting allocation reveals that $2.8m in the Attorney General’s Department budget has been dedicated towards funding a national consultation on the most appropriate methods of protecting human rights and responsibilities. Given what came out of the Australia 2020 Summit, might this be the beginning of discussions around developing the proposed Charter of Rights and Responsibilities?

For further information, download the Youth Coalition of the ACT’s excellent summary at http://www.youthcoalition.net/public/Publications/documents/download.php?maincategory=2&subcategory=5&file=2008-2009%20Budget%20Summary.pdf.

When I was on the ABC Advisory Council, we talked a number of times about Difference of Opinion, the ABC’s public affairs panel discussion series, hosted by Jeff McMullen. I always thought the series was rather dull and ugly, with McMullen’s reluctance to engage an enthusiastic live audience particularly frustrating. This was especially apparent when comparing Difference of Opinion to SBS’s Insight, hosted by Jenny Brockie, who I find far more interesting and skilled at involving the audience.

This Thursday, a new show, Q & A, hosted by the wonderful Tony Jones (of Lateline) will begin. It’s not billed, specifically, as a replacement for Difference of Opinion, but it surely must be so: Q & A’s format is similar (though now aired live) and it will occupy the same timeslot (9:30pm).

Apart from airing live - which the show’s producers say will prevent “editing for the convenient soundbite”, the evolution seems to be in involving the audience far more intimately: questions to the panel can be sent by SMS or through the website, and if you’re in Sydney on a Thursday evening, you can be part of the studio audience. I get the sense that the show will be driven far more by audience questions, rather than the moderation of the presenter. The producers say, “Now we don’t want the same old talking heads….basically if you have an opinion and you feel comfortable talking on camera, you’re in the audience. Energetic and opinionated - Q & A brings Australia’s egalitarian and larrikin spirit into the studio - with your help.”

Cool!

Q & A kicks off this Thursday, 22 May 2008 at 9:30pm on ABC 1, (with a discussion with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, no less!).

newmatilda.com have asked me to provide some initial reflections on the Australia 2020 Summit. My short article is available at http://www.newmatilda.com/2008/04/21/thinking-big-0.

In addition to the extensive live and pre-recorded televised coverage offered by ABC (and also Sky News), the following online resources are offering national news and opinion on the Australia 2020 Summit:

• Official Australia 2020 Media Hub (including News Centre, Video Streaming and Image Gallery): http://www.australia2020.gov.au/media/index.cfm
• ABC: Full Australia 2020 Summit Coverage (including audio and video): http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/2020/
• ABC News Blog: Australia 2020 Summit: http://blogs.abc.net.au/events/australia_2020_summit/
• The Australian: Full Australia 2020 Summit Coverage: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/index/0,25201,5016737,00.html

The following sites aren’t dedicated exclusively to covering the Summit, but have a strong focus on its ideas and outcomes:

• ABC News Online: Opinion: http://www.abc.net.au/news/opinion/
• ABC Unleashed: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/
• News.com.au: Blogocracy: http://blogs.news.com.au/news/blogocracy/