MEDIA RELEASE | Thursday 14 May 2023

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Key national youth resource discarded in Federal Budget

After over 30 years as the only youth clearinghouse in Australia, the Federal Government has ceased funding for the Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies (ACYS) from 30 June this year.

During this time ACYS has served Australian young people and the youth sector by providing objective, evidence-based analysis and information on best practice on working with young people.

The youth sector and ACYS staff have been given six weeks’ notice for the closure, impacting on their ability to ensure that the valuable key, national resources produced by ACYS can continue to be available to the youth sector.

ACYS’s stakeholder surveys confirm that the organisation, its products and services are make a significant contribution to and are highly valued by the youth sector. ACYS has been the only objective, non-partisan source of information and analysis available to the youth sector, to policymakers and to researchers working with and for young people in Australia. The analysis and information published by ACYS considers both what works and what does not work and addresses both.

The Government utilised key messages of ACYS’s recently released Face the Facts: Growing youth employment in the federal budget to develop a youth employment strategy and to invest in initiatives which focus on youth transitioning to work and growing entrepreneurship. This is an example of how ACYS’s valuable resources, particularly at a time of high youth unemployment, are used to provide evidence-based information that informs effective policy, research and practice development and provide vital  resources to make a difference in the lives of young people.

ACYS is a national project, based at the University of Tasmania, which was funded by the Department of Employment and Training (DoET) to support people working with or for young people, including youth workers, policymakers, researchers, community workers, teachers, academics and government themselves.

ACYS and many within the youth sector are disappointed and critical of the decision-making process that has led to the abandonment of ongoing support of this key national youth resource with such short notice. The decision was taken with no consultation with the sector on the impact that this will have on the youth sector.

Dr Jen Couch, ACYS National Director stated, ‘Although disappointed by this decision, we will, of course, continue to honour our contract deliverables of providing quality information and analysis to the youth sector, right up to June 30.’

Dr Couch added ‘I also want to thank and acknowledge the work of all the staff over the last 30 years. ACYS will continue to work with the DoET and the sector to ensure that this valuable resource is not lost to the youth sector and to identify where it can reside in the future so that it can continue to support and inform the youth sector.’

For interviews with Dr Jen Couch, ACYS National Director, or Ms Lindsey Moffatt, ACYS Manager, please contact:

Marta Guerra
Partnerships, Marketing and Communications
E: [email protected]
T: 03 6226 1748

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FAQ

Impacts of the loss of ACYS on youth services and young people