Youth Voice launched to empower young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – SNAICC in the News
SNAICC – National Voice for our Children has launched a first-of-its-kind Youth Voice platform to ensure that young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a say in shaping the national policies and programs that affect their lives.
Youth Voice is being developed as a permanent, structured mechanism that centres young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ voices within SNAICC’s work, aiming to elevate their lived experiences and ideas to the national stage. The Youth Voice platform will provide a safe, supported, and reciprocal space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to meaningfully contribute to SNAICC’s policy, advocacy, and program development. SNAICC sees this as a way to nurture young leaders while ensuring its own work remains grounded in what matters most to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Catherine Liddle, SNAICC CEO, said that young people are experts in their own lives and must be central to all decisions that shape their futures. She said that this initiative is about reciprocity—amplifying youth voices while providing them with the means to lead and influence. Catherine said that decisions made today by SNAICC, governments and the sector must reflect the priorities and perspectives of young people, and that Youth Voice will play a key role in ensuring this alignment.
Currently in its design phase, Youth Voice is being co-designed by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. SNAICC is conducting youth-specific consultations and engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations and stakeholders to ensure the platform genuinely reflects the diversity of communities across the country. Through this process, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are helping shape the structure and priorities of the Youth Voice.
SNAICC’s Youth Voice Policy and Engagement Lead, Joel Matysek, says this is the first time SNAICC has created a dedicated, ongoing national platform for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to shape policy and program development. While there have been advisory models and opportunities for youth voices to be heard in various ways, Joel notes that nothing of this scale or permanence has existed within SNAICC’s remit. The Youth Voice will offer a meaningful avenue for young people to influence the issues that matter most to them and contribute to SNAICC’s work as the national peak body. Joel says that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are leading the design process from the outset, and that Youth Voice are excited to have young people involved from the beginning—defining what this support should look like. He says that they will play a key role in designing the structure of the Youth Voice, including what a Youth Board might look like, and identifying the key focus areas SNAICC should be working on.
SNAICC is inviting young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to make a submission, sharing what’s important to them and how they want their voices to be heard. Public submissions are currently open, and SNAICC is inviting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, youth groups, communities, organisations and services to contribute. Submissions can be made in multiple formats—written, audio, video, or artwork—to ensure accessibility and cultural safety.
For full coverage, find the relevant news stories linked below.
Read the full Media ReleaseArticle: Youth Voice to give Indigenous children a platform to inform policies and programs
Excerpt:
Read the full articleSNAICC – National Voice for Our Children said on Monday the Youth Voice would provide a mechanism for young Indigenous children to shape and contribute to SNAICC’s work in a “safe, supported and reciprocal environment”.
Chief executive Catherine Liddle said as experts in their environment and experiences, young people must be heard by people who make decisions on their behalf.
“The decisions made by SNAICC, governments, and the sector today will shape the future for our children,” the Arrernte/Luritja woman said.
“The voices of our young people must be at the centre of that process.”
She said SNAICC wanted the platform to be “reciprocal,” giving both parties the tools and skills to be leaders and enact meaningful change, both in their communities and at a national level.
Article: Peak body launches youth voice
Excerpt:
Read the full articleSNAICC – The National Voice for Our Children – is establishing a Youth Voice to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people have a platform to inform the national policies and programs that impact their lives.
The Youth Voice will provide a mechanism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to shape and contribute to SNAICC’s work as the national peak in a safe, supported and reciprocal environment.
Catherine Liddle, CEO of SNAICC, said young people are experts in their own experiences and their voices must be heard by governments and decision makers.
Topic: Report calls for South Australian Government to legislate a Human Rights Act
A comprehensive report by the Social Development Committee of the South Australian Parliament, following a 16-month review, has urged the South Australian state government to enact a Human Rights Act.
The report highlights the need to modernise and consolidate human rights protections in South Australia. Key recommendations include transforming the Equal Opportunities Commission into a Human Rights Commission and consolidating existing rights and protections—currently scattered across multiple laws—into a single, cohesive Human Rights Act. The report also advises a broad community consultation to decide the appropriate model for the Act. The Committee emphasised that the Act should include the rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and seven key UN human rights treaties to which Australia is a signatory, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
SNAICC strongly welcomed the recommendations, calling the legislation a critical step to embed human rights into public policy and to protect the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. In a statement, SNAICC has said that it is a vital step toward embedding human rights into public policy, helping to safeguard the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. SNAICC urges the South Australian Government to act on these recommendations and deliver meaningful protections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and communities.
South Australia has the highest rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in residential care and subject to long-term orders, along with the lowest rates of family reunification nationally, according to Ashum Owen from Wakwakurna Kanyini, the state’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s peak body. The Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA) described the current fragmented human rights framework as ineffective in preventing harm or rights violations, urging reform. Shona Reid, South Australia’s Guardian for Children and Young People, spoke on the systemic failures in protecting the human rights of children and young people in care and detention, describing a ‘consistent and alarming lack of responsiveness.’ Reid called for laws and policies to prioritise children and young people as rights holders.