Youth Voice Subcommittee

I’m Jaharn Mundy-Drazevich. I’m a proud Ngunnawal, Yuin and Ngarigo man.

I was born and raised in Canberra, but I have tribal and ancestral and family connections all throughout NSW and up the NSW coast.

I joined SNAICC’s Youth Voice subcommittee to inspire other young Aboriginal people. We have so many deadly young people in Canberra, but a lot of them don’t have the confidence to use their voice.

I want to show all the young mob in Canberra that they can do stuff like this, too. They can be leaders representing their families and their communities. I want them to know that they are worthy and that they all have a powerful story to tell.

If I could change one thing about the way Australia sees young mob, I’d show them how smart we are. I’d show them we’re not lazy. We have a lot to say, but we keep being left out of the conversation. I’m going to work in SNAICC’s Youth Voice subcommittee to change that.

My name is Kasey Kopp. I’m a proud Arrernte woman from Alice Springs.

I decided to join SNAICC’s Youth Voice Subcommittee because I believe it was important to make sure we had representation from Central Australia. I want to make sure young people from the centre are being represented and not forgotten about.

It’s important we hear voices from the bush as our young people are our future leaders. We hear about all the negative coming out of Alice, with the way we are represented in the media. We have so many young people who are doing the right thing and are trying to make change for the next generation.

We need to make sure those voices are heard and supported and are not lost.

I’m Rylie Cadd. I’m a proud Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, and Dja Dja Warrung man and have connections to several other mobs throughout the country.

I currently work as a genealogist and I’m an acting team leader at the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency. My work focuses on genealogy, family history and finding placements for children in out-of-home care.

I became a genealogist because I’m passionate about identity and family connections. I love helping young mob find out what their history is and who they’re connected to because it helps them understand where they belong. It creates strong individual identity and also community identity.

I was inspired to join SNAICC’s Youth Voice because I know from my job that every young person has a story to tell. Those stories deserve to be heard. I’m excited to bring awareness to those stories on the national stage and hopefully start to make a change at the highest level.

I’m Amber. I was born and raised in the palawa community in Hobart, but my bloodline is from the Inman, Gooreng Gooreng tribe in Woorabinda, Queensland.

I currently work in the counselling team at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Hobart.

I was inspired to join SNAICC’s Youth Voice to help young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who feel lost and don’t know what to do. I’ve seen the system fail our youth, including people close to me, too many times.

If there’s one thing I could change about society’s perspective on young Aboriginal people, it’s them thinking we’re all violent. But that change won’t happen by itself. It’s up to us.

We have to continue the work our ancestors started. Even though we’re young, one day we’ll be Elders.

This is our story, too. This is our time to step up.

Hi, I’m Destiny. I’m a Gunai and Wotjobaluk woman currently living on Gunditjmara Country down in Warrnambool.

I was inspired to join SNAICC’s Youth Voice subcommittee because I’m passionate about mental health. It’s something that’s not spoken about enough in our community, and I’d like to change that. I’m especially passionate about how being in out-of-home care affects a person’s mental health.

My experience of the child protection system wasn’t great. I struggled with mental health for a very long time and felt like the people the system assigned to help me didn’t actually know how to do that well.

It wasn’t until I met other people with lived experiences like mine that I felt like my life had changed.  Now, I would like to be that person for other young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

My Name is Samuel Bon-Wosomo. I’m a proud Geauram Man from Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation of Murray Island. Born and raised in Waiben/Thursday Island, the Land of the sovereign people of the Kaurareg Tribe.

I decided to join the Youth Voice Subcommittee because of my value system (Faith, Family, Community) and for the people in my life who have lived experience of government systems that have failed to celebrate and respect the importance of cultural identity.

I yearn for the truth that lies within stories of our People; it carries strength, and it shouldn’t be problem-centred; it should be centred around solutions. I have really enjoyed being on this journey with SNAICC.

Being a part of the SNAICC Youth Advisory Group that has now transitioned into the Youth Subcommittee, where authentic youth voice has been the real highlight and centre of decision-making and development of our ecosystem approach and structure for me.

I have great hope for where we’re at and where we are going. (Let’s take a walk in Faith and Unity).

My name is Shaydan Close. I was born down in Kempsey in New South Wales, Thunghutti/Dunghutti Country, which is the area my father’s from.

I am currently living in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. My mother is from Central Australia and my family on that side are Pitjantjatjara and Kaytetye.

I’ve been a youth worker for the past two years.

I am a part of SNAICC’s Youth Voice subcommittee because I want to be a part of looking deeper into the problems that young mob are experiencing.

Instead of just saying “look at them running amok,” we need to ask questions like “what’s going on at home? Do they have a bed to sleep on? Do they have food in the fridge?”

I want to change those negative perceptions society has about us. Growing up, I remember going into shops and the staff would look at me like I was going to steal something, just because I was Aboriginal. And that really affects you. It stays with you.

I don’t want the next generations coming up to have to go through that. That’s how I can help pave the way for them to do special things for our people and culture.

Hi, I’m Tamikah. I’m Wangkumara and Wiradjuri mob from Dubbo and Bourke. I live and was born and raised in Penrith.

I decided to join SNAICC’s Youth Voice subcommittee for so many reasons: the Stolen Generations, racism, wanting to defend our people, broken out-of-home care systems.

That last one is very personal for me because I have lived experience of the out-of-home care system. But it wasn’t just me. I have friends and siblings who went through the same stuff.

So, by working in the Youth Voice, I see myself not just advocating for myself, but for my friends, family and all my people.

If there’s one perception about our mob that I’d change, it’s the prejudice that because we’re Aboriginal, there’s all this stuff we can’t achieve, that there are certain rooms we’re just not allowed to be in.

I want to show resilience and fight for the next generations. I want to create change so that my own kids aren’t put through the same broken systems.

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