A public discussion paper (PDF) released today by the NSW Commission for Children and Young People highlights the concern that the current major reforms of workplace laws do not fully address the needs of hundreds of thousands of young Australians.

Prepared by Professor Andrew Stewart, an expert in employment law and workplace relations from the University of Adelaide, the paper argues that a consistent national approach is required for children’s employment laws, either through similar legislation in each state and territory, or by a single federal law.

Read the full media release and download the paper from http://tinyurl.com/3npl7g.

Source: NSW Commission for Children and Young People

The report, 'Preventing crime and promoting rights for Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and mental health issues' shows that, all too often, young people with cognitive disabilities or mental health issues, such as developmental disability or autism, fall through the cracks of social services and end up in custody.

Launching the report in mid-November, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma called for the 'skilling up' of existing services that work with Indigenous young people with cognitive or mental health issues in order to halt their slide into the juvenile justice system.

 Source: Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies.

The Gen Green project is an online survey targeting 2006 and 2008 WorldSkills Australia National competitors across a range of trades and skill areas. This survey explores the green skills in the young workforce to meet the challenges of a sustainable future.

Source: Dusseldorp Skills Forum.

This report provides information about young people's experiences of sexual assault, the barriers they face to disclosing such experiences, the process of disclosure for young people, what individuals and schools can do to support somebody who has disclosed sexual assault and why it is so important to provide positive and supportive responses.

Australian schools have made a significant commitment to reducing violence, including sexual assault, in schools and supporting students who have been victims of violence. The full report is available from: http://tinyurl.com/64nvad. 

Source: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

By Michael Flood and Lara Fergus

It is widely recognised that violence against women is a significant problem affecting as many as one in three women in Australia. This widespread violence has impacts more widely on families and communities throughout our society.

This report examines how violence against women specifically affects children and young people. It looks at the nature of violence they experience in their homes and their own relationships, its impacts, and the priorities for action if efforts to prevent violence among, and protect, young people are to be successful.

Suicide attempts among lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) school students in Queensland are at disturbingly high levels, a report shows.

This literature review, prepared for the Scottish Governmen contains chapters outlining the research evidence on children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, participation of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, protection for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, provision for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, and the primary prevention of domestic abuse through education.

This year, Mission Australia conducted its seventh consecutive annual survey of young Australians.  45,558 young people aged 11 to 24 participated in the survey in 2008, including 3,700 who completed their survey online.

By Ani Wierenga

From the Blurb: Against a backdrop of social inequalities and rapid social change, this book develops a useful way of thinking about contemporary young people’s issues.

by Johanna Wynn

From the Blurb: Youth, Health and Welfare meets the demand for a critical, policy and practice-oriented inter-disciplinary perspective on the changing nature of young people’s lives and how this affects their health and wellbeing.

A new report released today by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma calls for the 'skilling up' of existing services that work with Indigenous young people with cognitive or mental health issues, in an effort to halt their slide into the juvenile justice system.

By Elizabeth Broderick, Human Rights Commission

In November 2007, Elizabeth Broderick began a nation-wide ‘Listening Tour’ to ask the Australian public two questions: How far have we come in our journey towards gender equality? And where should we focus our efforts into the future.

Found at what the answers were at  http://tinyurl.com/67cudf.

By Ben Saul, Sydney Centre for International Law

The new government has displayed some original thinking but not yet quite up there in the exceptional category of the very best governments around the world, according to this paper, which spells out areas requiring further attention – including Australia's attitude to capital punishment and torture in other countries.

Read the full article at http://tinyurl.com/5tosp4.

Source: Australian Policy Online

Of teens who are sexually active, a third had their first experience at age 14 years or younger, yet almost one in ten say they have not been taught sex ed at school according to research carried out by Marie Stopes International.

Management of not-for-profit organisations was once seen as irrelevant and esoteric. Because these organisations now receive so much government funding, interest in understanding how they ought to be managed and organised is now keen. With public funding comes increased scrutiny and policies to encourage ‘partnerships’ between not-for-profits and governments and businesses. In this environment, not-for-profits face challenges – perhaps threats – they have not encountered before.

Read the full text of this article at http://tinyurl.com/56gf9x.

Source: Australian Policy Online

By Andrew Smith, Eddie Oczkowski, Chris Selby Smith.

This report examines the ways in which Australian employers retain skilled staff and the ways in which employers enhance their ability to use the skills of their people. It has been published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research.

The Forum for Youth Investment in the USA has an occasional series of reports called the 'Out-of-School Time Policy Commentary' series. Number 12, 'Unpacking youth work practice', was released in the middle of the year, and although youth work practice in the USA might be very different to Australian practice, workers at the coal face might find 'Unpacking youth work practice' a useful document to read. It can be downloaded from: http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/node/452.

Source: Youth Field Xpress, Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies

by Christine Halse, Anne Honey and Desiree Boughtwood

While the primary focus of media attention and medical treatment is the individual's battle with anorexia nervosa, research from University of Western Sydney reveals that anorexia can have a long term impact on the physical, social, and psychological well-being of the entire family.

The Parliamentary Library produces a Monthly statistical bulletin (ISSN 1835-6389), updated each month by the Parliamentary Library's Statistics and Mapping Section at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/MSB/. It contains a selection of the latest economic and social statistics and is issued during the first week of each month. It contains statistics available on or before the day of release. All figures are original data unless otherwise noted. Section 1.5 of the bulletin provides an overview of youth unemployment: see: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/MSB/15.htm.

Source: Youth Field Xpress, Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies

by Chris Bonnor

by Kylie Hillman, Sheldon Rothman, October 2008. (LSAY research report n.53)

This report is part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth analytical program. The report examines young people's use of career advice activities while at school and their perceptions of the usefulness of that advice. The data are from the 2003 15-year-old cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY).

Australian agencies have developed a number of ways to help refugee and newly arrived young people of post-compulsory school age whose levels of education and types of experience do not match what Australian education and training frameworks associate with specific ages.

The 'ARACY Report Card' presents a summary of the wellbeing of Australia's young people. It provides an international perspective and sets a baseline for future monitoring.

Crikey has published two articles in recent days in response to a jury in Queensland finding Palm Islander, Lex Wotton, guilty of 'rioting with destruction.' If it wasn't clear enough already, it is now. There is no justice in Queensland for Indigenous people.

How Young People are Faring 2008 provides information on how successfully our education and training system is working to meet the needs of young Australians as they make the transition from school to further study and work. It provides up-to-date analysis of the effectiveness of transitions, including information on who is doing well and who is not doing so well in negotiating the various post-school pathways.

The report has been published by the The Foundation for Young Australians in alliance with the Education Foundation .

This report, published by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, delivers the latest and most reliable information on how, as a nation, we are faring according to key statistical indicators of child and youth health, development and wellbeing.

By Jenni Metcalfe, Michelle Riedlinger, Melanie McKenzie and Lesley Cook of the Australian Research Alliance for Children & Youth

In this paper we describe the benefits of collaborating for achieving child and youth services outcomes, and the incentives and impediments to the success of this collaboration. We focus on collaboration across the research, policy and practice sectors.

This brief information paper provides a summary of the 2006 Counting the Homeless Census undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.The 2006 Counting the Homeless Census recorded 122,172 people, including marginal residents in caravan parks.

The Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies (TILES) and the Department of Rural Health at the University of Tasmania have recently conducted the first major Australian trial of the ‘social norms’ approach to health promotion. The results are outlined in a briefing paper by Clarissa Hughes and they provide some useful insights into the application of the Social Norms approach.

Download the Social Norms Analysis Project Results, insights and future priorities from http://tinyurl.com/4vgdc9 (PDF).

By Andrew Leigh & Hector Thompson

Family background is known to have a substantial impact on students’ literacy and numeracy results. This raises questions about whether any of the remaining differences in results are due to school performance – or whether they are merely due to random noise.

Published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics , this report provides a summary of measures which relate to the fourteen headline dimensions of progress presented in the Bureau's Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP) project. It presents the headline indicators (where a headline indicator is available) at the national level, and a brief discussion about the measure and associated trends.

This paper attempts to identify Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 40 years from 1968 to 2008 and to plot that expenditure by agency.

The Inspire Foundation (www.inspire.org.au) has recently released a new research report titled 'Young people's perspectives on taking action.'  The report argues that the phrase "taking action" to marginalised young people means something quite different to traditional definitions of social and political participation.

On August 13 2008 the Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health held a Forum entitled 'The risks of adolescence -  can we keep young people safe?'. A DVD of the forum is now available and includes presentations on 

• Creating protective environments for young people  - by Prof David Bennett
  
• Keeping young people safe on the net - Netalert presentation
• Teenagers, risks and unintentional injury: what can we do? - Youthsafe presentation
• Adults never want us to have any fun- listen to what students from Macarthur Girls High School had to say!
• A panel discussion joined by all speakers on the day

The program, speakers' notes, and DVD order form are downloadable from http://www.caah.chw.edu.au/resources/speaker_notes/.

Founders of a world-first on-line Indigenous language program and touring theatre performance have calle for the Federal Government to urgently introduce a National Indigenous Languages policy. According to the Ngapartji Ngapartji group "... the establishment of a National Indigenous Languages policy is crucial if Australia hopes to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous health and education; it is as crucial as building hospitals and classrooms”.

UnitingCare Queensland, through a report into Employment Screening Cards, has identified several injustices inherent in the screening process relating to Child Care, Disability and Aged Care. The report, titled ‘Employment Screening Cards: Safety or Injustice in Human Services?’ (PDF) also goes on to identify a number of recommendations and areas for further research.

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recently released Reform Issue 92, ‘Children and Young People' which examines the current treatment of children and young people in the legal process.

A report released today (PDF at http://tinyurl.com/4f4j2p) has found that popular youth participation approaches - such as youth advisory boards - largely fail to engage with young people from diverse backgrounds. The report by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS), “Rewriting the rules for youth participation - inclusion and diversity in government and community decision-making”, was prepared by the Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre Australia (CIRCA) in conjunction with the Inspire Foundation (www.inspire.org.au) and Dr Ariadne Vromen.

By Richard Eckersley, published by Australia21

The health and wellbeing of young people, an important indicator of Australia’s future population health, is declining. This development is of immense social significance. It has implications not only for how we deal with specific current concerns such as child abuse and neglect, obesity, media sexualisation of children, and binge drinking, but for national priorities and public policy more broadly.

'Education at a glance 2008: OECD indicators' compares education data from its 30 member countries, which include Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The 2008 report found that Australia was "among a handful of ... countries, such as Canada, Japan, Britain and the US, where students and families were increasingly bearing the financial burden of higher education" and that "private spending had almost tripled during the past five years in OECD countries, with Australia one of only a few countries where private funding exceeded 50%".

By by Sharon Dawe, Paul Harnett and Sally Frye.

This paper published by the National Child Protection Clearinghouse "provides an overview of the research literature on the outcomes of children raised in families with multiple problems including parental substance misuse."

by David D. Curtis / Australian Council for Educational Research

This report examines the vocational education and training (VET) pathways pursued by young people since leaving school. It investigates the characteristics of those who pursue VET, their persistence in those programs, and the labour force and related outcomes that they experience following their VET participation.

Read full text at http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/LSAY_lsay52.pdf.

Source: Australian Policy Online

Prue Holzer, National Child Protection Clearinghouse

This Fact Sheet was prepared to coincide with National Child Protection Week, 7-13 September 2008. It presents an overview of child protection in Australia, including how child abuse and neglect is defined, its prevalence, the costs of child maltreatment, and prevention and early intervention strategies. Read the full text of Child protection in Australia. "Children see. Children do. Make your influence positive" at  http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/fs1/fs1.html.

By Patricia Rogers and Bob Williams, Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth and RMIT University

This report explores what we have learned about producing sustainable change for families and young children, drawing on evidence from published research and the experiences of Communities for Children (CfC) projects funded under the Australian Government’s Stronger Families and Communities Strategy 2004-2009.

YouthSpeak: A Conversation for the Future offers a unique insight into the voices, ideas and concerns of almost 13, 000 young Australians.  The report is the culmination of consultations that occurred between young people across every State and Territory in Australia over the past six months, comprising people from urban, rural and remote areas and representing 110 ethnicities.

Find the report at http://www.unya.asn.au/youthspeak/get.asp.

A number of legal organisations across the country have been independently reviewing the extent to which Australia has complied with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  They have jointly prepared an NGO report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council.

By Maggie Hamilton, published by Penguin

The full title of this book is What is Happening to Our Girls?  Too Much, Too Soon - how our kids are overstimulated, oversold and oversexed. The book is a critique of what it is to grow up in the media-savvy, body-conscious, consumption-saturated society that is Australia today.  For details see http://www.maggiehamilton.org/booksandaudio/ourgirls.htm.

This inquiry by the Environment, Communications and the Arts Senate Committee (of the Commonwealth Parliament) investigated the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment, including radio and television, children's magazines, other print and advertising material and the Internet.

The report from the inquiry can be downloaded from http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/.

The inquiry made 13 recommendations as follows...

The Whitlam Institute, along with the University of Western Sydney's Office of Engagement and the Foundation for Young Australians, has released a report that shows young people are not at all apathetic about politics, but rather participating in non-traditional ways.

In May 2008 the Commonwealth Government released a Green Paper on Homelessness Which Way Home? which sought to promote public discussion on homelessness, highlight the challenges faced by people who are homeless and suggest ways forward for reducing homelessness over the long term. Public consultations were held during May and June 2008 and outcomes from this process have now been published.