The Wellspring

The last few weeks have seen two new surveys of young Australians released:

Youth employment NGO Dusseldorp Skills Forum has released its survey of 800 young Australians, entitled “What Young People Are Thinking”. Conducted by market researcher Newspoll, the survey “provides insights into the study and work attitudes, opinions and experiences of young Australians.”

The survey reveals a group of young people who are confident about their personal future and generally positive about their experiences in study and in work. The survey also points to several fault lines that DSF say suggest areas in need of greater policy attention.

For further information and to download the survey, see http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/195.htm.

Meanwhile, Christian welfare support NGO Mission Australia is at it again, calling for young people aged 11 - 24 to complete its sixth annual National Survey of Young Australians. In 2006, they had 14,700 respondents.

The survey’s primary purpose is to identify and clarify the key and emerging issues for young people. It asks young people about what they value; their concerns; sources of advice and support and involvement in community activities. Mission Australia says that the survey “publicly affirms that young people and their views are valued by the community” and that the survey has become a valuable resource for young people and those working with young people and their rights and interests.

For more information and to complete this year’s survey, see http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/youthsurvey/.

The survey closes 29 June 2007, and as usual, the survey findings will be available publicly later in the year.

Update (22 May): Yet another! The results of the annual national survey of 15-20 year olds (”Youth Poll 2007″) by the Australian Democrats has been released.

“Youth Poll 2007 has found young Australians feel very strongly about the Government entering into a treaty with Indigenous Australians, with 68% saying it should do so. Other key findings of this years Youth Poll include: 54% of respondents know a young person who has attempted or committed suicide; 87% believe the Federal Government is not doing enough to address climate change; young Australians are split on support for an Access Card, with 49% supporting the proposal and 51% opposing it; and, only 14% of young people think society negatively stereotypes young parents.”

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that the Democrats are releasing details of how many young people participated in their survey. However, whilst you might expect the poll to mainly reach the Democrats’ progressive supporter base, some of the responses are surprising conservative, which might suggest a broader reach. For example: a majority say that the Federal Government should not repeal its voluntary student unionism legislation and that Australia should not become a republic (!), and over 40% support mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

For further details, see the media release at http://www.democrats.org.au/news/index.htm?press_id=5873, and download the full poll results at http://www.natashastottdespoja.com/cms_resources/documents/Youth_Poll_Report_2007.pdf.