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ARCHIVED: Youth Facts and Stats

Australia's homeless youth: Report of the National Youth Commission independent inquiry into youth homelessness, April 2008, ISBN 978-0-646-48910-0

The National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness (NYC) was an independent community inquiry funded by the Caledonia Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation focused on sustainable futures for young Australians. Caledonia's involvement in the NYC represents a bold philanthropic commitment to effect significant change for young people beyond the more traditional charitable funding of projects and property. Alongside the NYC Inquiry, a major feature documentary, The OASIS, was made by the award-winning documentary production company Shark Island Productions. Homeless young people participated in the film for over two years, courageously sharing their life experiences. Hopefully, both the NYC Inquiry report and the documentary film, in different but complementary ways, will shine new light on the issue of youth homelessness in Australia. (Preface)

The report is the result of 21 days of hearings in all states and territories, evidence from 319 individuals and 91 written submissions, including seven from state government departments. The inquiry was lead by Father Wally Dethlefs, Narelle Clay, David Eldridge (chairman of the NYC), and Assoc. Prof. David MacKenzie of RMIT.

The NYC report also called for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to conduct an inquiry into the number of young people leaving state care who become homeless. The report also includes specific recommendations on health, mental health and alcohol and other drugs. The National Youth Commission's report, Australia's Homeless Youth, can be downloaded from:
http://www.nyc.net.au The report is also available for download on the website for the documentary, The OASIS, mentioned in last month's edition of this newsletter. See:
http://www.theoasismovie.com.au/om/report/report.php

UPDATE: see Australia Policy Online piece by the report's authors.

More on The OASIS

Part of the NYC's inquiry involved the making of a documentary about the work of Paul Moulds, of the Salvation Army's OASIS centre in Sydney, which helps homeless youth. The documentary was screened on ABC TV on 8 April 2008, coinciding with the release of the NYC report, and with National Youth Week. Interestingly, after the screening, the ABC, scheduled extra time for an on-air forum about the documentary, facilitated by ABC TV Lateline's Tony Jones, and featuring Paul Moulds and David Eldridge from the Salvation Army, Australia's housing minister Tanya Plibersek, whose offices overlook the OASIS centre in Sydney, and some of the young people featured in the documentary whose lives have been influenced by the work of OASIS. For more on this see:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/oasis/
and viewer responses to the documentary, at:
http://tinyurl.com/4rf6pj

... and for schools: The DVD of The OASIS and a study guide

A DVD of the documentary, The OASIS, is being donated to every school in Australia. The study guide that accompanies the documentary is at:
http://www.theoasismovie.com.au/om/education/studyGuide.php or get there via: http://tinyurl.com/5y3yca

(Source: Youth Field Xpress, n.140, April 2008, viewed 23 April 2008).