Proceedings: Are we there yet? National youth affairs conference 1?3 May 2007

GEORGIE FERRARI
CEO, Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic)

The proceedings are available for download from the YACVic website at www.yacvic.org.au

Are We There Yet? The National Youth Affairs Conference took place over three days in Melbourne, 1?3 May 2007. The conference saw approximately 900 young people, workers with young people, researchers, academics and policymakers come through the doors to discuss and debate youth issues.

The conference was the culmination of two years of planning and hard work. While the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria was the central organiser of the conference, we were supported greatly by a number of organisations and individuals. Each of the state and territory youth peak bodies deserve a mention for the energy and effort they put into promoting the conference.

Thank you to all of you who attended the conference, I was thrilled with the energy and excitement the conference generated. There was a genuine buzz during plenary and workshop sessions and in the breaks. The diversity of delegates at the conference, in terms of geographical spread, ethnicity and work background, was something many of you commented on. Personally I was delighted to have so many young people with disabilities attend the conference. In all, 204 young people came to the conference, their presence and input greatly enhanced the three days in so many ways.

These kind of events provide invaluable opportunities for us to get together as a sector and reenergise ourselves as workers in the youth field; if the conference achieved nothing else this in itself is a valuable outcome.

YACVic would like to send out a huge 'thank you' to everyone on the Conference Youth Team for shaping, designing, twisting and moulding the Are We There Yet? National Youth Affairs Conference. Your time, energy and enthusiasm has been greatly appreciated. Full conference proceedings are available for download from the YACVic website at www.yacvic.org.au

These conference proceedings offer a summary of the events and activities that took place over the three days. It is provided as a glimpse of what took place rather than a comprehensive report on the entire event.

Included as part of the conference proceedings are full-text versions of the peer-reviewed papers presented at the conference:

How do young people with mental health issues access community-based support networks?
Ann Dadich

Policies for youth participation and the development of new political identities
Philippa Collin

Powerful roles: Kids as co-investigators, coaches and key informants in communication training for education and health professionals
Helen Cahill

Powerful participation
Rod Baxter & Emma Haxton

Introducing YES: Young people's democratic participation ? towards developing a youth democratic voice
Kathy Edwards

Does spirituality have a role in building community within secondary school systems?
Jacqueline Hodder

Are we on the right track? Mapping the terrain of anger management
Suzanne Egan

Economic reforms, social inequality and education in Sri Lanka
Siri Hettige

The secret life of the National Youth Roundtable
Jude Bridgland Sorenson

Transitioning from state care: Young people's journey to independence
Philip Mendes & Badal Moslehuddin

'Play hard, play fair': Using sport to engage young males in social action
Neil Hall

Youth work students mentoring young people at risk of homelessness: A partnership between a youth work degree program and a local youth agency
Trudi Cooper, Orietta Simons with Andrew Hall, Melissa Porteus & Amy Hacket

Young people in rail environs: An interagency approach to conflict reduction and crime prevention
Trudi Cooper, Erin Donovan & Terry Love

Young people thriving out of low-income families
Steven Sek-yum Ngai, Ngan-pun Ngai, Chau-kiu Cheung & Siu-ming To

How much longer is left of this stupid lesson?
Kitty te Riele

Factors affecting the acceptance of social work services: Evidence from two focus groups with social workers working with youth-at-risk
Ngan-pun Ngai, Chau-kiu Cheung & Steven Sek-yum Ngai

The Global Connections program ? a model of meaningful youth participation and action
Samantha Ratnam

Developing identities: Young people and their involvement in radio training at JOY Melbourne
Helen Stokes & Adam Quayle

'Jacks (& Jills) of all trades'? So why is DV so difficult?
Judy Kulisa

Teaching, learning and the 'dilemma of difference' for parenting students in school settings
Geoff Shacklock, Lyn Harrison & Jennifer Angwin