The YANQ Youth Affairs Conference held on 20 and 21 July was a great success. Over 200 people from the youth sector in Queensland attended the conference. Participants really enjoyed the opportunity to get together as a sector again and inspire each other to continue our important work with young people.

The conference was opened by Turrbal Songwoman Maroochy Barambah. Her singing reminded us of the ancestors and the privilage of living in this beautiful land. Following an introduction and invitation by Siyavash Dooksthah, Director of YANQ for us to explore our work and practice through out the conference, the conference delegates heard from students of Southside Education and Hymba Yumba Community Hub about the challenges of young people, the importance of alternative education and importance of youth workers working at the pace of the young person. Their contribution set the scene for an amazing two days of provocative speakers and discussion. There were 42 workshops over two days, and the wonderful stories of work undertaken by the sector across Queensland were shared by workshop presenters.

At the conference dinner, conference delegates participated in honouring and thanking Fr Wally Dethlefs for his inspiring work in the youth sector for many decades.

Another conference highlight was the opportunity to hear the poetry of rising star Luka 'Lesson' Haralampou - poet and hip-hop artist. What a privilage it was to hear him speak his poetry.

Thanks to everyone who made this wonderful event possible. More about the conference later...............

From 2-4 September the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth (ARACY) held its national conference under the theme of Transforming Australia for our children's future: Making prevention work.

Presentations, papers and audio recordings of selected speakers and panel sessions are now available on the ARACY Conference website at http://www.aracyconference.org.au/speakers.php.

YACVic has uploaded photos from the National Youth Conference held in May 2007.  You can find them at flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/14485251@N03/.

The 2007 National Youth Conference proceedings and a short film are now available to be downloaded. The documents below contain an overview of the three days, a summary of the conference evaluations and 20 peer reviewed academic papers that were presented at the conference.