2. 1
Summary of Recommendations 2
Introduction 5
Youth Action 6
Western Sydney Project 7
Outburst! 8
Being a young person
from Western Sydney 10
The Forum 15
Participants 16
The Program 17
Keynote speakers 19
Skills workshops 20
Findings and Recommendations 23
Sustainability 24
Gender 28
Physical Health 33
Sex and Sexuality 38
Culture 43
Humanitarianism 47
Mental Health 53
What’s Up Next? 59
Sponsors and partners 62
Copyright 2013 Youth Action & Policy Association NSW Inc
Suite 403, 64-76 Kippax Street SURRY HILLS NSW 2010
(02) 9281 5522
info@youthaction.org.au
www.youthaction.org.au

3. 2 3
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of1.
Councils (WSROC) coordinate a plan to build
an integrated, youth-friendly bike track network
in Western Sydney
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage2.
communicate current government environmental
programs to young people more directly and
effectively, using social media
Local councils and the NSW Department of3.
Education and Communities engage and educate
young people in the restoration, conservation
and protection of parks, reserves and other
natural habitats
4. Departments and agencies in the NSW
Government introduce quotas, targets and
other initiatives to increase the representation of
women in public sector leadership roles
5. The NSW Government introduce legislation to
encourage women to take up executive, board
and senior management positions in the private
and community sector
6. The NSW Government and the NSW Department
of Education and Communities provide additional
support for young women to learn about and
work in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics
7. The NSW Department of Health introduce more
initiatives to promote healthy eating and exercise
habits in young people to reduce youth obesity
8. The NSW Government investigate strategies
in media regulation and school intervention to
promote healthier body image in young people
9. The Department of Health ensure all young
people, especially those from low-SES, CALD
and newly-arrived backgrounds, can access
health services
10. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities develop explicit policies to
combat homophobia & transphobia in schools
and provide support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ)
students
11. The NSW Government conduct an inquiry into
the legal and social impact of new technologies
and sexual behaviour in young people,
specifically looking at sexting
12. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities develop a more structured policy
around sex education in the curriculum
13. The NSW Government incorporate a more
inclusive concept of Australian culture in national
events like ANZAC Day
14. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities introduce more student-focused
policies to reduce racism and racial violence
in schools
15. The NSW Government introduce initiatives to
encourage ethnic diversity in the government and
leadership in the public sector
16. The Federal and NSW Governments provide
additional support for young refugees in
detention, specifically in areas of health, mental
health and education
17. The NSW Government legislate that government
departments and agencies procure goods and
services from ethical sources, without slave or
child labour in their supply chain
18. The NSW Government encourage young
Indigenous leadership and engagement in
Western Sydney
19. The NSW Department of Health launch
awareness campaigns on how to access
mental health services
20. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities ensure all schools in NSW develop
and implement a mental health policy
21. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities clarify the roles teacher and school
counsellors play in mental healthcare in schools

4. 54
What do young people in Western Sydney care
about? What do they want? What do they need?
What do their worlds look like and what can they
imagine it to be in ten, twenty or fifty years time?
This is the core of the What’s Up West? project. It
takes young people from all across Western Sydney,
puts them in a conversation with one another to talk
about what they can do to make their communities
better and empowers them with the skills needed to
make real and lasting change.
On 26-27 September 2013, more than 50 young people started this
conversation at the What’s Up West? forum in Penrith. The forum was
followed by a series of consultations in schools and youth services. This
report gives voice to more than 170 young people from across 14 local
areas in Western Sydney.
This report aims to act as a speakerphone that takes young people’s
ideas and relays them to decision-makers in government, business and
community sectors in a form that is understandable and evidence-based.
Specifically, it includes a set of 21 recommendations for government and
other public agencies on seven different topics, including: environmental
sustainability, gender, physical health, sexuality, culture, humanitarianism
and mental health.
Although decision-makers are our primary audience, the information in
this report may also be of value to educators, academics and anyone in
the general public who is interested in social change, young people or
Western Sydney. It contains a wealth of qualitative and quantitative primary
data on the attitudes and ambitions of young people in Western Sydney
and would be useful as a supplement for existing research as well as a
basis for new areas of social inquiry.
None of this would be possible without our project partners. The What’s
Up West? project was run and funded by the Western Sydney Project and
Youth Action. Its creative direction and vision was steered by Outburst!
Western Sydney Youth Action Group.
5

5. Youth Action is the peak body representing young
people and the youth workers who support them
in NSW. Youth Action provides resources, training
and publications to ensure its members and the
youth services sector are well-informed, well-trained
and supported.
Youth Action also conducts policy research and
advocates on behalf of its members and the sector
to ensure government policies and legislation are
fair and equitable for the youth services sector and
young people in NSW.
6
It was Youth Action’s absolute pleasure to support
the What’s Up West? project. Through our Western
Sydney Project, Youth Action envisions a Western
Sydney where all young people are supported,
engaged and valued. What’s Up West? 2013 gives
us a chance to hear what young people in Western
Sydney have to say about the positive changes they
want to see in their community.
Emily Jones, Managing Director
Youth Action is funded to run a separate Western
Sydney Project. The Western Sydney Project
Coordinator works in the interests of young people
and youth services across Western Sydney by:
working to raise a positive profile of young•
people in the region and promoting youth issues
monitoring and responding to government•
policies and proposals
providing training on a wide range of issues to•
young people and youth workers
7
developing relevant campaigns and ensure a•
Western Sydney perspective in Youth Action
campaigns
providing information, referral and resources•
advocating and lobbying on behalf of young•
people in decision making processes which affect
their lives.
What’s Up West? and Outburst! are both projects run
by and funded through the Western Sydney Project.
Alex Long, Western Sydney Project Coordinator

6. “Outburst! has allowed me to grow, not only as a person,
but as a young person striving for change. The monthly
meetings (and the emails and constant updates in between)
give me the power to act on what I’m passionate about
– whether it’s from mental health to the environment or
to education.
Being a member of Outburst! has allowed me to pursue so
many new things and develop solutions for the concerns of
today. In the space of a year, I’ve attended meetings with
MPs, helped design a mental health project, organised a
conference, learnt about the mechanics of social media
and advocacy, been enlightened with new stories and
experiences, and most importantly, met the most incredible
and passionate people.“
- Lubna Sherieff, Camden
Outburst! Western Sydney Youth Action Group is
made up of young people, aged 12-25, who are
passionate about making a change in Western
Sydney. Here are group members Frances and Lubna
on their experiences in Outburst! Western Sydney
Youth Action Group.
8
“At 23, I’m coming to the end of what is generally considered the age
bracket for a ‘young person’, and I’m grateful that I took the opportunity
to be an Outburstie whilst I had the chance. You see, I’m something of
a trouble maker, for unjust institutions, that is. One thing I really like to
stir about is youth mental health.
Mental health problems, particularly depression and anxiety, have
affected many young people in my life - friends and colleagues who
deserve a better situation.
Joining Outburst! gave me a chance to do something about that, in
the form of developing a program aimed at helping young people
help themselves and each other in times of poor mental health. It’s
an exciting idea with serious benefits for the young people of NSW,
and it’s developing in an amazing, fun and inspiring environment.
Outburst! provides the space to develop initiatives such as these,
whilst maintaining the fun along the way, whether it be the
discovery that apple pieces taste excellent in the lunchtime wraps,
to throwback music playlists and frequent crafting sessions. I’ve
enjoyed every minute of Outburst!, and my only regret is that
I can’t be an Outburstie forever.”
- Frances O’Brien, Quakers Hill
9

7. 10 11
Diverse
Greater Western
Sydney (GWS)
Includes all areas within the
14 local councils of Auburn,
Bankstown, Blacktown,
Blue Mountains, Camden,
Campbelltown, Fairfield,
Hawkesbury, Holroyd,
Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith,
The Hills Shire and Wollondilly.
Populous
Home to over
2 millionpeople. That’s almost a tenth of
Australia’s population.
More than
1 in 3
Western Sydney
residents are
young people
aged 24 years and under.
The newest Australians live
side-by-side the first Australians.
Young
The residents of Western Sydney
represent more than half of the
world’s nations with
41.1% born
overseas
and 32.8% coming from Non-
English speaking backgrounds,
compared to the national average
of 15.7%.
It has the largest urban communities
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in Australia.
41.1%
Experiences of growing up, living and learning in Western Sydney
are as varied and colourful as the young people themselves. There
are, however, some common threads. The discussions throughout
the forum and in the consultations showed that the interests of
young people in Western Sydney seemed to lie on three dimensions:
immediate, aspirational and humanitarian.
Without exception, every young person consulted during this
process mentioned the negative stigma around living in Western
Sydney and being labelled a ‘Westie’. But, often in the same breath,
the overwhelming majority of young people also expressed
a sense of pride for where they come from and a desire to
improve its reputation.
Youth Action’s 2011 report Western Sydney: Love it? Leave it?, dealt
with this duality by looking at the reasons high-achieving young
people decide to leave Western Sydney, resulting in what the report
called a ‘brain drain’ in the area (Taylor, 2011). In a combination of
interviews, surveys and focus groups with over 178 participants,
the report found that the main reasons for moving away were to
pursue educational and employment opportunities not available in
Western Sydney.
Despite leaving, the majority of these
respondents felt a certain loyalty and
commitment to Western Sydney, some seeing
their departure as a transitional process of
gaining new skills and experiences before
returning to Western Sydney to start a family.
The other major reason for leaving Western Sydney, according to
the report, was that some young people never felt “at home” there.
This is especially the case for same-sex attracted and gender queer
young people who often felt like they were the “only ones” until
they moved into a more Metropolitan area. LaTrobe University’s
Writing Themselves In 3 report was a survey of more than 3,000
LGBTIQ young people (Hillier et al, 2010). It found that 61% have
experienced some sort of homophobic abuse, 18% of which included
physical abuse. These numbers were significantly larger in outer city
areas and even more extreme still in rural and remote areas.
“There’s definitely a
negative perception [of
Western Sydney] and I
think it’s detrimental. If
everyone’s always telling
you that you’re terrible
and delinquent, after
a while you’ll start to
believe it, and you think
“What’s the point of
even trying anymore”
- Dirk Jensen, 17, Baulkham Hills

8. Our findings in the What’s Up West? consultations supported
these trends. Young people in Western Sydney, like young people
everywhere, very much care about their educational, vocational and
lifestyle opportunities. But underpinning these aspirational interests,
many young people in Western Sydney also have to attend to
more immediate physical concerns like their safety, health and
social inclusion.
In both the forum and consultations, issues of health and social
inclusion were viewed as incredibly important by the young people,
specifically in the areas of mental health, nutrition and body image and
combating different forms of bullying and exclusion, whether racism,
sexism or homophobia. Issues of safety, though mentioned in the
context of other conversations, were less discussed but this may reflect
more on the sorts of young people that attend youth forums than the
reality in the population.
The last dimension of interests present in these consultations can
be categorised as humanitarian interests. These are interests that
supersede a young person’s personal interest and looks at the
“common good”. Contrary to images of young people in Western
Sydney being ignorant global citizens and self-involved, some
of the most passionate conversations of the forum and consultations
centred around these issues. They include: human rights, global
poverty and sustainability.
Given its enormous cultural diversity, semi-rural spaces, and large
proportion of refugee resettlement, it could be argued that the reason
for this passion is that these global issues hit closer to home for young
people in Western Sydney. That is, they’re more likely to have had
lived experience seeing the human face of poverty and the refugee
crisis or the effects of climate change on rivers and farms than young
people in other areas of Sydney.
12
Each one of these three dimensions are vital
to understand the phenomenology of being a
young person from Western Sydney. To fully step
into their shoes, one must recognise the dizzying
complexity and diversity of their opinions and
experiences. What this model cannot capture is
the value individual young people place in each
one of these dimensions. Though there are social
and demographic factors that affect these value
judgments, they by no means predict them. For
instance, the data doesn’t support the intuition
that more disadvantaged young people would
value their immediate needs above aspirational or
humanitarian interests.
13
“I am more than proud
to live in Western
Sydney. I thrive on
challenging the
stereotypes that are
out there in the media,
and I aim to improve
the broader perspective
that Western Sydney is
actually a great place
to live.”
- Gemma Barbagallo, 18, Rooty Hill
In fact, some of most ardent
advocates for humanitarian
issues came from the lowest SES
backgrounds.
This report does not wish to tell a singular,
definitive story of what young people in Western
Sydney think or want or need, because there isn’t
just one story. What this report instead wishes to
do is give young people a space to use their own
voices, no matter how dissident or divergent. So
sit down and listen to them, hear their ideas and
perhaps, in this convergence of minds, be inspired
and moved to action.

9. 14
Young
Person
Immediate Interests
Safety
Health
Housing
Social Inclusion
Aspirational Interests
Employment
Education
Lifestyle and Recreation
Humanitarian Interests
Combating Global Poverty
Gender Equality
Human Rights
Sexual Freedoms
Cultural Tolerance
Environmental Sustainability
What’s Up West? 2013
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
26 - 27 September
15

10. 16 17
The aims of What’s Up West? 2013
were two-fold:
To provide a platform for1.
young people to have their
voices heard on social and
political issues that matter
to them
To empower young people2.
with the skills and knowledge
to bring about positive change
in their communities.
50 young people from all over Western Sydney attended the
What’s Up West? 2013 forum. Of them, 30 were female and 20
male. Ages ranged from 12-18 with a mean age 16.1.
On top of this, 123 young people were consulted with through
workshops in schools. The median age for this group was 14 with
60% of participants being female and 40% male.
Boys
Girls
Male Female
12 yrs 13 yrs 14 yrs 15 yrs 16 yrs 17 yrs 18 yrs
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Age Distribution
Age
Age Distribution
What’s Up West? happened over two jam-packed days of workshops,
activities, keynotes and roundtable discussions. Check out our program.
Day 1 - Thursday 26 September
9.00 - 9.30 Registrations Open
9.30 - 10.00 Opening
10.00 - 10.30 Ice Breakers
10.30 - 11.00 Candy Royalle
11.00 - 11.30 Anna Rose
11.30 - 12.00 Morning Tea
12.00 - 12.30
Sustainability
(Q Theatre)
Gender Equality
(Orchestral Room)
Reconciliation
(Allan Mullins)
12.30 - 1.00
1.00 - 1.30
Body Image
(Q Theatre)
Sex and Sexuality
(Orchestral Room)
Multiculturalism
(Allan Mullins)
1.30 - 2.00
2.00 - 2.30
Lunch
2.30 - 3.00
3.00 - 3.30
Public Spaces
(Q Theatre)
Politics
(Orchestral Room)
New Tech
(Allan Mullins)
3.30 - 4.00
4.00 - 4.30
Short Film
(Q Theatre)
Activism
(Orchestral Room)
Getting Stuff
(Allan Mullins)
4.30 - 5.00
5.00 - 5.30 Close

11. 1818
Day 2 - Friday 27 September
9.00 - 9.30 Registrations Open
9.30 - 10.00 Viv Benjamin
10.00 - 10.30 Energiser
10.30 - 11.00 Panel: Miriam, Omar, Yanis
11.00 - 11.30 Morning Tea
11.30 - 12.00
Poetry Slam
(Q Theatre)
Media
(Orchestral Room)
NGOs
(Allan Mullins)
12.00 - 12.30
12.30 - 1.00
Global Poverty
(Q Theatre)
Mental Health
(Orchestral Room)
Human Rights
(Allan Mullins)
1.00 - 1.30
1.30 - 2.00
Lunch
2.00 - 2.30
2.30 - 3.00 Drumming
3.00 - 3.30 Blueprint Session
3.30 - 4.00 Brainstorming
4.00 - 4.30 Minister Victor Dominello
4.30 - 5.00 Present Projects
5.00 - 5.30 Close
The guest speakers at this year’s What’s Up West? represented the very
best in different fields of youth advocacy.
We started with the lyrical explosion that is award-winning poetry
slammer and performance artist Candy Royalle. Candy shared her
experiences growing up in Campbelltown as a daughter of Lebanese
refugees and discovering her voice as a queer woman. This was
followed by a raw and insightful question and answer session that wove
through a very broad range of issues like having the courage to be
different, using art as a means of activism and getting along with family.
Our second keynote speaker, Anna Rose is the founder of the
Australian Youth Climate Change Coalition and one of Australia’s
leading environmental activist. She spoke to What’s Up West?
about her first foray into starting a campaign at the age of 16, which
successfully forced the NSW government to revoke the proposal to
build a mine near her hometown. She spoke about the power of young
people to create change from the grassroots and to fight for causes
they believe in.
On Day 2, we had the pleasure of hearing from Oaktree CEO Viv
Benjamin. Viv spoke about the Zulu concept of “Ubuntu”, the idea that
we find our humanity through other people. She painted a vivid picture
of humanity’s intrinsic need to be compassionate and also her own
personal journey to find what it means to be a person living for others.
As head of the Oaktree Foundation, she runs the largest youth-run aid
organisation in Australia. It raises millions of dollars a year to alleviate
extreme poverty in the third world.
Also on Friday was an all-star panel with Centre of Policy Development
CEO Miriam Lyons, LeftRight Think Tank National Marketing Director
Ammy Singh and Australian Poetry Slam champion Omar Musa.
Their topic of conversation was “How do you make change in a
democracy?”. A fascinating discussion ensued, touching on everything
from stigma in Western Sydney to how governments should fund the
arts. Omar also performed a few of his poetry pieces, including “Play
On”, “Fireflies” and his award-winning “My Generation”.
19

12. 20 21
Public Spaces
Run by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA),
this workshop aimed to get young people to
reimagine their localities as blank canvases that
can be filled with dynamic visual and performance
artworks. Participants in this session were also able to
demo the MCA’s prototype “Art Cart”, a portable art-
making machine fitted with speakers, a badgemaker,
sketch board and iPad.
Politics
This interactive workshop, run by Youth Action’s
Eamon Waterford, gave young people the tools to
lobby the government on local, state and federal
levels. This included everything from learning how
to send a letter to an MP to power analysis and
customising a campaign to target the right
decision-makers.
New Tech
Robogals is an organisation founded by 2012 Young
Australian of the Year Marita Cheng when she was
only 19 and aims to increase the number of young
women in the fields of engineering and computer
sciences. This session was run by the UNSW chapter
and taught young people how to build and program
a robot to navigate an obstacle course.
Short Film
With the motto “Our ultimate goal is redundancy”,
CuriousWorks is a not-for-profit that empowers
disadvantaged communities to tell their stories
through different mediums. They then train these
storytellers to go on and train others. This session was
a brief introduction to the basics of filmmaking, what
makes a good short film and how to use film to tell a
community’s story.
Activism
Run by GetUp’s Senior Campaigner Kelsey Cooke, this workshop
looked at the basics of running a campaign. This includes analysing a
movement’s allies, resources and obstacles and using that information to
formulate strategies.
Getting Stuff
Aptly named, this workshop by Vibewire taught young people how to
connect with agents in both the public and private sectors to get what
they need for their projects. Looking beyond the classical fundraising
paradigm, this session looked at developing mutually beneficial
partnerships and how to get all sorts of resources from equipment and
workspace to volunteers and expertise.
Poetry Slam
Poetry is a relatively new spoken-word art form. It’s almost a fusion
between a poetry reading and a rap battle. In this session, run by
Australian Poetry Slam winner Omar Musa, young people were given
the space to unlock their literary creativity. By the end of the workshop,
young people had the opportunity to perform their poems. The results
were often humorous and inspiring.
Media
Run by LeftRight Think Tank National Marketing and Communications
Director Ammy Singh and University of Sydney Union BULL Magazine
editor Lawrence Muskitta, this workshop taught young people how to
strategically engage with media. This included getting a handle on what
the media landscape in Australia looks like as well as learning practical
skills like how to write press releases and pitch stories.
NGOs
A way a young person can create positive change is getting involved
with or starting up an organisation. The Global Poverty Project was
started by Australian young person Hugh Evans and is now one of the
leading education and advocacy organisations around global poverty.
This session gave an insight into working in one of those organisations
and how young people can be involved.

13. 22
This section outlines what young people in Western
Sydney think about issues that affect them and how
they think these problems can be solved.
These findings and recommendations are based
on discussions had during the What’s Up West?
forum as well as six school consultations held after
the forum.
The discussion sessions in the forum were 60
minutes long, each with around 15-20 young
people participating. The school consultations
were each 40-75 minutes, depending on length of
the period at different schools, with a total of 123
young people reached across the six consultations.
Various methods of engagement were employed,
including: roundtable discussions, surveys,
personal reflection and small-group discussion. The
responses to the focus questions were collated
using on-site live polling on young people’s
smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Overall, 173 young people were involved in the
formation of these recommendations.
These recommendations are then are split up into
three parts:
• What individual young people can do
• What the community can do
• What the government can do.
23

14. 24 25
Unlike most other issues discussed in the What’s Up
West? project, environmental sustainability was one of
the most uncontroversial. Young people unanimously
believed that protecting the natural environment
was of paramount importance and that society could
do more to be more sustainable. Furthermore, the
overwhelming majority also believed that climate
change was both an urgent problem and one that
needs to be addressed immediately.
Facilitated by AYCC founder Anna Rose
Key Issues
Climate change and global warming•
Mining and coal seam gas•
Burning of fossil fuels•
More extreme weather occurrences (droughts, bushfires, cyclones)•
Destruction of natural environments and habitats (eg, forests, rivers, reefs)•
What Individuals Can Do
Learn the science behind climate change•
Communicate the need to act to friends•
and family
Reduce waste and excessive consumption•
Convince family to use clean energy•
Grow own food•
What the Community Can Do
Starting school or community groups that•
work towards being more sustainable
Community gardens•
Tree planting•
Bike education and safety•
What the Government Can Do
WSROC coordinate a plan to build1.
an integrated, youth-friendly bike
track network in Western Sydney
Transport accounts for around 14 per cent of NSW’s
net greenhouse gas emissions, the State’s second
highest source of emissions (Transport for NSW,
2012). 89 per cent of this is from road transport
(Australian Greenhouse Office, 2006).
An effective way of reducing
travel-related emissions, according to
young people, is to have more people
travel by greener means of transport
like cycling.
The problem, however, is that although there are
some bike tracks in Western Sydney, they’re not
interconnected enough to be a feasible means
of transport. This seems to be due to a lack for
continuity from LGA to LGA. Certain local councils,
like Parramatta, Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains
have comprehensive bike plans, whereas others like
Really
Important
50
40
30
20
10
0
How Important is it That We Act on Climate Change?
Important Unsure Unimportant Really
Unimportant
Camden and Auburn have archaic plans dating back
to the 90’s. Other councils have nothing at all. In
order to solve this, it was recommended that:
a. All LGAs be required to have an up-to-date
bike plan
b. A state body coordinate the integration of
the different local bike plans into a cohesive
regional plan.
Furthermore, the type of bike track will determine
whether young people feel safe using them. Young
people in the consultation mentioned that many of
them felt uncomfortable using on-road bike lanes
because they felt intimidated by other vehicles and
much preferred riding on either a shared footpath or
in a physically separated bike lane. It was therefore
recommended that:
c. Where possible, councils build a shared
footpath or a physically separated bike
lane as opposed to merely an on-road
bike lane

15. 26
2. The NSW Office of Environment
and Heritage communicate
current government
environmental programs to
young people more directly and
effectively, using social media
Despite the NSW Government having existing
programs like Eco Schools grants, the school food
garden program and other community grants,
according to young people, these programs struggle
to engage young people directly (Environment NSW,
2013). Any contact with young people is usually
mediated through a school or youth service. This
model of engagement relies on teachers and youth
workers to, firstly, be aware of these programs and,
secondly, to communicate this information to their
young people.
According to forum participants, the
best way to give information to and
engage with young people is through
technology.
Young and Well CRC’s report on young people’s use
of technology found that, in a sample of 1400 young
people, 93.9% check their emails regularly and 92.7%
use social media of some kind (Burns, et al., 2013). It
is therefore recommended that:
a. Sustainability programs should adopt a social
media strategy to engage with young people
b. These social media channels work as a
portal to link young people with information
and opportunities regarding grants and
other projects.
3. Local councils and the Department
of Education engage and educate
young people in the restoration,
conservation and protection
of parks, reserves and other
natural habitats
Many young people in these conversations spoke
about poorly maintained parks, rivers or reserves in
their local areas and of their desire to help restore
and conserve these environments. They spoke of
highly polluted areas of the Hawkesbury River, litter
in local national parks and animals being affected
by development. Other than big days like Clean
Up Australia Day, most young people did not know
of many other opportunities to get involved with
environmental restoration and conservation.
A few solutions were suggested to rectify this
problem. Firstly, schools could do more to integrate
practical sustainability skills into their curriculum.
Many schools have environmental
groups that work on projects like
edible gardens or composting on
school land but very few schools
run sustainability projects out in
their communities.
This, according to forum participants, is mostly to do
with schools not having connections with external
sustainability groups or don’t have the information as
to how to get involved with existing projects in the
area. It was therefore recommended that:
a). The NSW Government develop a website
that outlines local environmental projects run
by various NGOs and community groups. This
should have the aim to, firstly, inform
schools and other services about
sustainability opportunities near them and
secondly, to promote volunteering and active
citizenship in young people.
b. Assess and reduce bureaucratic barriers that
prevent schools from engaging with NGOs.
27
74.8% of young
people said it was
‘important’ or
‘very important’
that we act on
climate change.

16. 28 29
Young people in these discussions were split as to whether young
women in Gen Y were still disadvantaged due to their sex. The majority
did, however, strongly feel that women in society are treated inequitably
in many areas, including in access to positions of power, in their pay and
in societal expectations of their career path, child rearing and sexuality.
Many, especially young women, felt that the struggle for gender equality
is one rooted in fundamental human rights and that a fairer, safer, more
egalitarian world is one where men and women are given the same
opportunities and treatment.
Facilitated by Destroy the Joint’s Meg Clement-Couzner
Key Issues
Sexism in Australia•
What feminism means to Gen Y•
Women in power•
Influence of media•
Pay gap•
What Individuals Can Do
Talk to more people about gender equality•
Bring gender equality up in conversation•
Challenge assumptions about men and women•
Speak out against sexism whenever it appears•
Educate yourself about gender equality•
What the Community Can Do
Greater media scrutiny•
Naming and shaming of sexism•
Run social media campaign•
on gender equality
Host a White Ribbon event•
Gender stereotypes•
Glass ceiling•
Women in sports•
Sexualisation of women•
“I am a male
but a feminist”
What the Government Can Do
Departments and agencies in the NSW1.
Government introduce quotas, targets and
other initiatives to increase the representation
of women in public sector leadership roles
In both the forum and the subsequent consultations, there were long and
fairly intense discussions on the role of women in leadership, specifically
political leadership. Many participants expressed their frustration with
the underrepresentation of women in high public offices. In the NSW
government, for example, there are five women in a Ministry of 22. In the
Federal government, the disparity is even starker with only one woman in a
Cabinet of 20.
Looking at the public sector more broadly, women represent 38% of NSW
Government board and committee positions and only 26% of the Senior
Executive Service (SES; Women NSW, 2013).
Although the effectiveness of quotas was fiercely
debated, both sides acknowledged that something
had to be done to increase female representation.
In the end, most participants supported a minimal quota of around
25% to ensure a baseline of female representation but, to reach an
appropriately equal level of gender representation, other initiatives should
be implemented to counter the sociocultural disadvantage women face.
These could include: women mentoring programs, gender equality training
for senior management, professional development opportunities and
cadetships and entry-level programs specifically for women.
Recommendations:
a. State and federal governments should take gender
representation into account when selecting Ministry
and Cabinet
b. Put in place mandatory baseline quotas of around 25%
of female representation on all NSW Government board and
committee positions as well as for the SES
c. Set a target (eg, 40% by 2016) for what percentage of women
the Government want on their boards, committees and the SES
d. Implement initiatives (like those mentioned above) to encourage
women to be involved in and get promoted to these positions.
“Women are
powerful
and equal
to men”

17. 30 31
2. The NSW Government introduce legislation to
encourage women to take up executive, board
and senior management positions in the private
and community sector
The private sector has very similar problems to the public sector albeit
with greater variability between different industries.
Women’s representation on boards and as senior
executives is ranked as “very low” with 12 percent
and 10 percent, respectively, in the top ASX 500
companies with headquarters in NSW.
In contrast, women account for around 51 percent of board members in
not-for-profit organisations (Women NSW, 2013). Though this sounds like
it’s reaching gender parity, this number sounds a lot less impressive when
put in the context that women make up around 85% of the workforce in
this sector. On top of this, the proportion of women being on a board is
also negatively correlated with the annual turnover of that organisation,
in that organisations with higher turnovers will, on average, have less
women on their boards. Interestingly, there is, however, a positive
correlation between the percentage of an organisation’s income that
comes from government funding and number of women on their board.
This, according to the YWCA’s (2012) Boards and Gender Diversity
report, is because organisations whose incomes rely on government
grants are more aware of how the gender break-down of their board
will affect perceptions of diversity and inclusivity in their organisation.
This seems to be an effective way to incentivise NGOs to elect a
fairer proportion of women onto their boards, executive and senior
management. It is therefore recommended that:
a. Tender and grants applications must include information on
who is on the organisation or business’ board, executive and
senior management.
“Be a humanist,
that’s gender
equality #realtalk”

18. 32 33
3. The NSW Government and the
Department of Education provide
additional support for young
women to learn about and work in
science, technology, engineering
and mathematics (STEM)
Although females outnumber men in key educational
indicators like high school completion, university
enrolments and postgraduate completions, there
is still a 9.1% pay gap between male and female
graduates. This is because, according to the Women
in NSW report, the largest pay increases in the last
decade have been in traditionally male-dominated
industries, primarily in the areas of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (Women
NSW, 2013).
Currently, female students are
14 percentage points less likely
than male students to complete
STEM courses at HSC level and 10
percentage points less likely to enrol
in STEM courses at a tertiary level.
A way to close this gap, according to the forum
discussion, is by encouraging young women to
engage with STEM areas from as early as possible
to break down the stereotype that girls are only
good at English and humanities and boys are good
at maths and science. This will hopefully encourage
young women to take STEM subjects in their HSC
and enroll in these courses when pursuing a tertiary
qualification. It is therefore recommended that:
a. The NSW Government support initiatives like
Robogals, that run robotics workshops in
schools to encourage young women to
engage with STEM subjects
b. Give incentives for businesses in STEM
industries to employ more women and to
promote initiatives that reduce barriers
that prevent women from participating in
these fields.
Yes Maybe No
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Are Women in Power Treated The Same as Men?
Response
56.6%of young people said
that women in power
are treated differently
from men
Facilitated by UWS psychology lecturer Dr Jo Milne-Holme
Key Issues
Eating disorders•
Obesity•
Nutrition and exercise•
Unrealistic representations of bodies in the media•
Body dismorphia in both men and women•
Bullying around image•
The idea of physical “perfection”•
Airbrushing•
What Individuals Can Do
Look after own fitness and diet•
Be knowledgeable about nutrition•
Help encourage others to be healthier•
Don’t judge others for their bodies•
Be encouraging to other people•
What the Community Can Do
Schools, sports teams and religious groups•
boycott fast foods
Family education•
More realistic body role models•
Buy from companies that promote healthy•
body image
The physical health, and specifically body image, of young people seem
to lie across two polar extremes. The Fairfax Lateral Economics Index
of Australia’s Wellbeing (2013) calculates that obesity costs Australia
around $120 billion a year, making it one of the nation’s largest public
health issues, especially for young people. At the same time, according
to a report by the Butterfly Foundation, the past decade has seen a
sharp increase in eating disorders among Australian young people with
reported rates quadrupling since 2002 (Butterfly Foundation, 2012). The
struggle to find the right food and exercise balance was a major topic
of conversation in the forum and many of the consultations, as was the
way young people perceive their bodies and how these perceptions are
influenced by the media they consume. Another topic of discussion was
how young people access health services, who they feel comfortable
approaching and barriers to accessing care.

19. 34
According to the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare’s (AIHW; 2011) report on the health and
wellbeing of young people, over one-third of young
people are overweight or obese. These high rates of
obesity can be attributed to both poor eating habits
and insufficient exercise.
A staggering 95% of young people
do not consume the recommended
amounts of fruit and vegetables
per day.
One reason for the lack of eating fruits and
vegetables, according to forum participants, may be
a lack of education in nutrition. Currently, nutrition
and healthy eating is only studied in one mandatory
subject, Technology, which students study in years
7-8. However, the Technology syllabus is incredibly
broad and nutrition and healthy eating competes with
many other topic areas (Board of Studies NSW, 2012).
Consequently, throughout their high school career,
students only have mandatory exposure to the idea of
nutrition in one topic of one subject. Looking at the
data on young people’s eating habits, this does not
seem to be enough.
It was therefore recommended that:
a. An inquiry be done on making nutrition a
more important topic in the curriculum.
While at a school consultation, we encountered an
interesting model of lifestyle education. In Rooty
Hill High School there’s a program called SALSA
(Students As Lifestyle Advocates), which has since
been replicated in 12 other schools in the Blacktown
LGA. It empowers year 10 students to teach healthy
lifestyle principles to year 8 students. This program
has significantly reduced the rate of obesity in the
school and additionally, teaches young people to be
part of the solution in complex social issues. It was
therefore recommended that:
b. The NSW Government commit to more
research and funding into healthy lifestyle
peer-education programs
On the topic of exercise, less than half (46%) meet
the minimum levels for daily physical activity (AIHW,
2011). When discussed in the forum, participants said
this was unsurprising as they felt that many traditional
social activities like playing sport, riding bikes and
generally exploring have been replaced in the
cyber-world. Online gaming, social media and video
streaming were some cyber activities participants
thought were replacing more traditional forms of
socialising. Though they said organised and in-school
sports were important, they are not enough. Young
people need to be motivated to be active in their
own time and need to be provided spaces to do so.
One way of doing this, according to the participants
is to have more public exercise equipment available
in parks. It was therefore recommended that:
c. The NSW Government give funding and set
targets for public exercise equipment
What the Government Can Do
The NSW Department of Health introduce more1.
initiatives to promote healthy eating and exercise
habits in young people to reduce youth obesity
“Don’t bash one
body type to
support another”
35

20. 36 37
2. The NSW Government investigate
strategies in media regulation and
school intervention to promote
healthier body image in young people
A large topic of conversation in both the forum
and the consultations was the role that media plays
in how young people perceive their own bodies.
Both male and female young participants felt that
the media presented highly unrealistic images of
what bodies should look like, that females needed
to be skinny and have large breasts and males
should have abs and muscles. Whether in movies,
television, advertisements or the fashion industry,
these unattainable ideals continually bombard young
people and shape the way they view themselves and
other people.
Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders are
real problems for young Australians. According to
the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (2013),
approximately 9% of the population have some sort
of eating disorder.
Eating disorders disproportionately
affect young people, with 84.3%
saying they know someone with an
eating disorder.
Media regulation was suggested as a means of
lowering unrealistic bodily expectations. At first
it seemed like a fanciful idea but there is, in fact,
precedent for it. Israel, for example, has banned
the use of airbrushing in advertising as well as the
use of models that are classified as malnourished
under the World Health Organisation’s standards
(having a BMI of less that 18.5). Similarly, Australia
has put in place advertising regulations in order to
combat public health issues in the past with its ban
on tobacco advertising in 1992, for example. In that
case, advertising regulation, paired with awareness
campaigns, led to a sharp decrease in smoking
behaviour. It is possible that these results could be
replicated in the case of body image and eating
disorders. The Federal Government has already
released a Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on
Body Image but its uptake has been slow (Ellis,
2010). The possibility of looking into a more forceful
policy should at least be considered. It is therefore
recommended that:
a. The NSW Government conduct an inquiry on
banning the use of seriously underweight
models and airbrushing in advertisements
When asked whether young Australians have a
problem with body image, one young person said,
“Depends how hot you are”. Funny as it was, it also
sparked a very serious conversation about whether
even the most attractive people are happy with
their bodies. It was concluded that satisfaction with
one’s body does not necessarily correlate with how
attractive others find you. This seems to suggest that
there are internal processes at work in body image
and eating disorders that cannot be combated
merely by changing the environment, as in media
regulation. A more complete solution must also target
individual young people, empowering them to feel
comfortable with their own bodies and giving them
the tools to build resilience to resist negative body
image pressures.
In 2010, the Federal Government invested half a
million dollars into body image workshops and
training through the Butterfly Foundation and
selected schools (Ellis, 2010). This is definitely a
positive step and has had some hopeful outcomes
(though they have not been tracked as thoroughly as
it perhaps could). It is not, however, nearly enough to
reach every student in Australia.
It was therefore recommended that:
b. Supplementary funding be given to ensure
every student in NSW receive some form of
body image workshop or training
c. This funding be conditional on the service
collecting data on the outcomes of the
workshop and how effective they are at
delivering them
“Perfection is not realistic,
being real is perfect enough”
3. The NSW Department of Health
ensure all young people, especially
those from low-SES, CALD and
newly-arrived backgrounds, can
access health services
An interesting and unexpected finding from the
consultations was that, though most young people
feel comfortable accessing health services, there were
small but distinct groups of young people who did
not (17%) and for very specific reasons.
A group of young people mentioned that both of
their parents work late and that they and their siblings
were left home alone for prolonged periods of time
after school and on weekends. They felt that if they or
one of their siblings got injured during one of these
times, they would feel not feel comfortable calling
an ambulance or going to a doctor. Ambulance
assistance, for example, is not covered on Medicare
and the families of young people could face a bill
of a couple hundred dollars. This could be a major
concern for low-SES families.
Similarly, there was also a group of international and
newly-arrived young people who, firstly, did not know
how to access health services and, secondly, did not
know their rights when it comes to healthcare.
The current NSW Youth Health Policy states that one
of its aims is to ensure “Young people experience
the health system as positive, respectful, supportive
& empowering” (NSW Department of Health, 2010,
pp. 4). As part of this goal, it identified making health
services more youth-friendly, using multimedia and
technology to reach young people and “walking
beside” young people through the health system as
possible strategies. These are good starting points
but a more comprehensive set of strategies should
also address how the health system can better
engage with low-SES, CALD and newly-arrived young
people. It is therefore recommended that:
a. The NSW Department of Health conduct
research on how low-SES, CALD and
newly-arrived young people access health
services and how best to educate and
engage them in the health system
Yes Maybe No
80
60
40
20
0
Do Young Australians Have a Problem
With Body Image?
Response
Really
Sure
50
40
30
20
10
0
If You Got Seriously Sick or Injured,
How Confident Are You That You’d
be Looked After?
Sort of
Sure
I Don’t
Know
Sort of
Unsure
Really
Unsure

21. 38 39
Facilitated by Twenty10’s Terrence Humphreys
Key Issues
Over-sexualisation of young people in media•
Sexting•
Access to pornography and sexual material•
Teenage pregnancy•
Homophobia and transphobia•
LGBTIQ youth homelessness•
Safe sex, STIs and family planning•
Sex education•
What Individuals Can Do
Don’t judge others for their sexuality or•
sexual decisions
Learn about and practice safe sex and•
healthy relationships
Have open discussions about sexuality•
Support friends who are vulnerable or•
discriminated against for their sexuality
What the Community Can Do
Schools and workplaces should be more•
accepting
Safe housing and safe spaces for LGBTIQ•
young people, especially in rural and
regional areas
Young people in Western Sydney, like many young people, have a
conflicted relationship with sex. The difference is Western Sydney’s
cultural diversity brings with it fiercely divergent views about sex and
what sexual relations mean. Young people have to form their view on
sex and sexuality while navigating the, often contradicting, views of their
parents, peers and society at large. It is in this climate of ambiguity and
confusion that we’re having this rather candid conversation, one of the
most interesting and multifaceted of the project.
“Homophobia impacts straight people.
LGBTIQ people are our family and
friends. Discrimination affects us too.
We can experience homophobic violence
even if we’re not gay”
Regardless of whether participants thought
homosexuality and being transgender was natural
and morally permissible, nearly all participants agreed
that same-sex attracted and gender diverse people,
nearly all participants agreed that homosexual
and transgendered people do not deserve to be
discriminated against and bullied in the way that they
are, especially in school. According to a 2010 national
study by Latrobe University, two in three same-sex
attracted young people have suffered verbal abuse
and over 18% have been physically abused (Hiller,
et al., 2010). 80% of this abuse occurred at school,
an increase of 6% from 2002. Despite this, there are
few to no explicit policies to curb homophobia and
transphobia in schools.
37% of young people described
their school as homophobic or very
homophobic overall.
For example, the NSW Department of Education and
Communities’ policy on homophobia in schools was
last updated in 2005 and is one page long. It just
asserts that homophobia in schools is unacceptable
and that each school must implement Procedures
for Resolving Complaints about Discrimination
Against Students and must appoint a discrimination
contact officer. It does not, however, define what
constitutes homophobic behaviour and what should
be done about it. The Department has no explicit
policy on transphobia.
There was discussion in the forum regarding what
exactly constitutes homophobic and transphobic
behaviour. Obviously physical violence aimed towards
LGBTIQ young people would fall under that category
but there are difficulties trying to find a line when it
comes to verbal abuse. A major topic of discussion
was whether using the terms “gay” or “homo” in a
derogatory way was homophobic. Phrases like “that’s
so gay” or “no homo” are ingrained in the vernacular
of many young people and, according to forum
attendees, are sometimes even used by teachers.
There are vastly different standards for homophobia
and transphobia between schooling sectors, schools
themselves and even within them, from teacher to
teacher. It was therefore recommended that:
a. NSW Department of Education
and Communities update their
policy on homophobia in schools
to include transphobia.
b. This policy should have explicit definitions
on what constitutes homophobic and
transphobic behaviour and what procedures
schools should put in place to reduce these
sorts of behaviours.
The Writing Themselves In 3 report also found strong
links between homophobic abuse and feeling unsafe,
drug use, self-harm and suicide attempts (Hiller, et
al., 2010). These negative indicators can, however,
be significantly mitigated by social support. More
specifically, it was found that young people that
reported their school as being supportive were far
less likely to harm themselves or attempt suicide,
regardless of the level of abuse experienced. It was
therefore recommended that:
c. The policy include a section on how to support
LGBTIQ students to insulate and mitigate
negative effects of bullying if it does occur
An example of a thorough and well-researched policy
on homophobia and transphobia is the Gender,
Sexuality and Identity policy released by the NSW
Teachers Federation in 2011. The NSW Department
of Education and Communities could appropriate
some of these points in their own policy.
What the Government Can Do
The NSW Department of Education and Communities develop1.
explicit policies to combat homophobia & transphobia in schools
and provide support for LGBTIQ students

22. 40 41
In the consultations there were very distinct
discussions around the effect new technologies have
on how young people access sexual material. One
of the newest and least addressed phenomenon is
called sexting.
Sexting is defined by the Victorian Parliament as
“the creating, sharing, sending or posting of sexually
explicit messages or images via the internet, mobile
phones or other electronic devices by people,
especially young people” (Parliament of Victoria Law
Reform Committee, 2013, pp. 1).
The inquiry found that, under Federal child
pornography laws, young people between the ages
of 16-18 are in a precarious legal situation in that
they’re legally allowed to engage in sexual activities
but it’s illegal for them to record or take pictures of
those said sexual activities.
Although data around actual sexting behaviour is
minimal at best, according to the report, up to 40%
of young women in that age group have been asked
to send naked or semi-naked images of themselves.
Participants in the What’s Up West? consultations
confirmed that this number seemed reasonable,
perhaps even smaller than reality.
Under current laws, young people,
aged between 16-18, who engage in
sexting behaviour, can be prosecuted
under child pornography laws.
The majority of consultation participants were not
aware of this law, many thinking it ludicrous. This
was supported by a 2013 study by UNSW on young
people and sexting In Australia, which found that
young people in their focus groups were uniformly
surprised by the legal ramifications of sexting, calling
it “excessive”, “hype” and “overdone” (pp. 12).
2. The NSW Government conduct an inquiry into the
legal and social impact of new technologies and sexual
behaviour in young people, specifically looking at sexting
The report to the Victorian parliament recommended
that amendments be made on a state-level on how
police enforce child pornography laws when it comes
to sexting and young people. Similarly, it is therefore
recommended that:
a. The NSW Government conduct their own
inquiry on the legal ramifications of sexting,
particularly how it affects young people
b. There be greater education around both
sexting and cyber safety in general,
specifically focusing on the social
and legal consequences
Yes Maybe No
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Is Western Sydney Homophobic?
Response
Sex education is a prickly topic. For many people, it,
like religious and ethical education, sits on the grey
area of what is the responsibility of the state and
what is the responsibility of the family. This divide was
especially apparent when it came to
more controversial areas like LGBTIQ sex and
abortion and whether schools should teach them
and when. There were in-depth discussions on these
topics in the consultations, with many fair arguments
on both sides.
In the end, regardless of which side participants
took, nearly all agreed that this was a conversation
policy-makers should have and that the curriculum
should be clearer on what teachers should be
teaching and how.
These views are supported by other research in
this area such as the Let’s Talk About Sex report by
AYAC and YEAH (Giordano & Ross, 2012), which
reported that 80% of surveyed young people think
sex education in schools was beneficial and National
Survey of Australian Secondary Teachers of Sexuality
Education, which reported 94% of teachers support
sex education being integrated in the curriculum
(Smith, et al., 2010). Empirically, the need for more
comprehensive sexual education is apparent. The
AIHW’s report on the health and wellbeing of
young people found that notifications for sexually
transmissible infections have increased fourfold in
the last three years, with a huge spike in the cases of
Chlamydia (AIHW, 2011).
The other reoccurring theme in these discussions was
the wide range of experiences young people had with
sex education. There were marked differences in how
much of sex education they received, how well it was
delivered, what they were taught and when.
3. The NSW Department of Education and Communities
develop a more structured policy around sex education
in the curriculum
The majority of participants were
taught sex education in PDHPE in
years 7-9. Some had one-day sessions
around once a year. Others said they
had nothing at all.
This disparity is probably caused by the lack of policy
on how sex education should be taught, on both a
state and national level.
The upcoming national curriculum (Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority,
2013) makes almost no mention of sexual education,
despite having sections on personal and social
capabilities, and ethical development. Similarly, the
NSW curriculum for years 7-10 (Board of Studies,
2012) only states that “sexual health” (pp. 29) will be
taught in PDHPE. There is no mention of what should
be taught and how. Although the curriculum support
website does have resources on how to speak about
sexuality and take sex education classes in primary
and high schools, these are mostly presented as
loose guidelines than as prescriptions of what must
be covered.
It was therefore recommended that:
a. The Department of Education conduct an
inquiry into what teachers, parents, young
people and the community in general
think should be the role of sex education
in schools.
b. The national and state curriculum set
concrete requirements for what schools must
teach in the area of sex education.

23. 4342
“Just because
I’m Arabic
doesn’t make
me a terrorist.
Being a Muslim
isn’t a crime”
Facilitated by Andrew Cummings from the
Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN)
Key Issues
Cultural stereotypes•
Celebrating diversity•
Defining Australian culture•
Immigration•
Political correctness•
Language barriers•
“Us against them” rhetoric•
Internalised racism and unconscious stereotypes•
Racial slurs in sport•
Discrimination in school and the workplace•
Multicultural education•
What Individuals Can Do
Learn more about and be more accepting•
of other cultures
Be proud of your background•
Challenge racism when it comes up•
Be reflective of own attitudes and beliefs•
Don’t laugh at racist jokes•
Don’t stay silent when you or the people•
around you are being discriminated against
What the Community Can Do
Media representing cultural diversity and•
moving beyond tokenism
Events should accommodate all cultures•
Better services for new migrants•
Build community spirit by having fairs•
and festivals
Recognise contributions of other cultures•
in society
Encourage CALD people to create media,•
journalism, apply for grants and funding
Western Sydney’s multiculturalism, though viewed as overwhelmingly
positive by forum participants, definitely does have fault-lines and
sometimes underlying prejudices between different cultural groups
can flare up with disastrous consequences. The following conversation
centred on how we can make the most of Western Sydney’s cultural
mosaic and prevent fractures in our social structures.

24. 44 45
As previously mentioned, Western Sydney’s cultural
make-up is heavily influenced by new waves of
immigration. Almost one in five people living in
Western Sydney are newly arrived, having come to
Australia in the last five years.
Many of the young people consulted were either
children of migrants or migrants themselves. When
talking about whether they thought they were
included in the Australian narrative, many of them felt
that, despite schools focusing on diversity and having
events like Harmony Day, they would not be classified
as an “Aussie”.
What it means to be an “Aussie”,
according to many young people,
is to be an Anglo-Saxon that had
grandparents that fought in WWII
and ancestors from the Colonies.
There was a sentiment that these Australians have a
purer, more natural connection with Australian culture
and that migrants are adopted into the Australian
story, almost reluctantly.
There was discussion about, despite many initiatives
to make all cultures feel included, why there was
still this sense that white Australia was the “real
Australia”. It was suggested that this is because the
most popular Australian legends, the ANZACs, Ned
Kelly, the First Fleet, all involve white protagonists.
But this is not necessarily how it has to be.
What the Government Can Do
The NSW Government incorporate a more inclusive1.
concept of Australian culture in national events like ANZAC
With the Centenary of WWI being commemorated
in 2014, educators and historians have a unique
opportunity to reinterpret and retell the ANZAC
legend in a way that includes Indigenous and
culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australians.
With over $110 million being budgeted on the
ANZAC Centenary federally, there is enough funding
to research and develop a program that can facilitate
this important cultural repositioning.
The Anzac Centenary Advisory Board (2013)
acknowledged the importance of recognizing
Indigenous and CALD stories in their report, saying
“The role of Australians from diverse cultural and
linguistic backgrounds in defending our freedom
and values deserves to be recognised. Even though
the White Australia policy persisted into the 1960s,
the make up of Australia’s armed forces has always
reflected the country’s diversity. If we are to make
the Anzac tradition a unifying inheritance for today’s
Australians, the connections must be made to
contemporary Australian society, its diversity and its
values” (pp. xxix)
Although the Government has already committed to
including Indigenous and CALD stories in the official
ANZAC Day commemorations, there is not enough
support for schools and youth services to do likewise
and, for that matter, there’s not enough support
for young people to run projects for themselves
(Australian Government, 2013). It is therefore
recommended that:
a. The NSW Government create resources
and implement training so that schools
and youth services are equipped to include
Indigenous and CALD stories in their ANZAC
Day commemorations
b. The NSW Government provide grants for
Indigenous and CALD young people to run
projects that aim to promote Indigenous and
CALD perspectives in the ANZAC legend
Racism and racial violence in schools are issues that
governments and educational institutions take very
seriously. Great efforts have been made to promote
harmony and mutual understanding between cultural
groups. Despite this, rates of racism and racial
violence in schools remain unacceptably high.
A 2009 report by FYA found that
70.1% of young people have
personally experienced some kind
of racism, the majority of cases
occurring in schools.
Two ways of reducing racist behaviour were
suggested: greater focus on cultural education and
stereotype reduction interventions.
The first strategy is being implemented on a national
level. The proposed Australian National Curriculum
includes cultural understanding as a cross-curriculum
priority. This has three parts: recognising culture and
developing respect, interacting and empathising with
others and reflecting on intercultural experiences
and taking responsibility (Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013). Each of
these elements are important to reducing racism and
are positive steps forward. They do, however, need to
be finalised and implemented in NSW. It is therefore
recommended that:
a. Cultural Understanding as a cross-curriculum
priority remain in the final version of the
Australian Curriculum and that it be
integrated into the NSW syllabus
2. The NSW Department of Education and Communities
introduce more student-focused policies to reduce
racism and racial violence in schools
The second strategy raised by young people
for reducing racism was stereotype reduction
interventions. This is different from merely educating
young people about other cultures, it involves
actively targeting and neutralizing negative attitudes
towards certain racial groups.
Social psychologist Fiona White found in a 2012
study that more personal exposure to a culture results
in decreased negative attitudes towards that cultural
group (White & Abu-Rayya, 2012). Cyber interaction
with people of different cultures, for example, will
result in less prejudice than simply learning about the
culture theoretically. Face-to-face interaction results
in the biggest reduction in prejudice, especially when
that interaction is mediated by a common goal (eg,
working on a project together). According to young
people in consultations, although most public schools
are brimming with cultural diversity, many private
schools, particularly religious private schools, are
far more culturally homogenous. These schools are
the ones that have the most need for contact-based
stereotype reduction interventions. It is therefore
recommended that:
b. The NSW Government investigate contact-
based stereotype reduction interventions,
particularly in culturally homogenous schools

25. 46 47
Young people in the forum and consultations spoke
about the lack of cultural representation in both
state and federal levels of government. Federally,
out of 150 MPs, only ten were born overseas in a
non-European country. To proportionately represent
the national population, that number should be at
least double what it is. Furthermore, there is only one
Indigenous person in the House of Representatives.
Australia only elected its first MP of Muslim
background in 2010. On a state level, although
there does not seem to be any official statistics
about the cultural diversity in parliament, a cursory
glance at members’ profiles reveals both houses to
be overwhelmingly Anglicised. The first and only
Indigenous MLC was elected in 2003. Other racial
minorities are far and few between.
3. The NSW Government introduce initiatives to
encourage ethnic diversity in the government
and leadership in the public sector
Judging by these figures, there are undeniable
barriers that prevent CALD people from being
elected to these positions. While there is little that
can, or should, be done on the election level, political
parties are able to reform their policies on the
preselection or branch level and also in the way they
appoint Ministers and other positions of leadership. It
is therefore recommended that:
a. NSW Government conduct research into
Indigenous and CALD people being elected
into parliament and investigate factors that
inhibit participation
b. Parties implement initiatives that actively
encourage Indigenous and CALD people
to run for preselection and reduce barriers
that systematically prevent Indigenous and
CALD people from being preselected
c. Governments should strive to appoint
appropriate ministers for minorities, eg. an
Indigenous Minister for Aboriginal Affairs or a
CALD Minster for Multicultural Affairs
In terms of the public sector more broadly, according
to a 2008 report, only 14.5% of the public sector
workforce identified as being CALD, significantly
under the Government benchmark of 19%
(Department of Premier and Cabinet , 2008). There is
little data on CALD people in senior executive roles
in the public sector. To see whether there is a need
for more initiatives in this area, research should be
done as to whether there is an underrepresentation
of CALD people in the senior executive service. It is
therefore recommended that:
d. NSW Government conduct research into
the representation of CALD people in senior
executive roles
Yes Maybe No
100
80
60
40
20
0
Is Australia Racist?
Response
The poverty session was facilitated by Oaktree’s Viv Benjamin
and Hilary Viney and the human rights session was facilitated
by Eliza Scarpellino from Amnesty Australia
Key Issues
Refugees•
Treatment of indigenous people•
Fair trade•
Homelessness•
Hunger, malnutrition, dehydration•
Access to education•
Healthcare•
Foreign aid•
Structural inequality•
Freedom of speech and the Right to Silence•
What Individuals Can Do
Buy from ethical sources•
Write to MPs and people in power•
Financially support or volunteer•
for aid organisations
Give surplus food from events•
to homeless people
Engaging with media (writing articles,•
videos, blogs etc)
What the Community Can Do
Fundraisers•
Starting community projects (eg, festivals,•
awareness workshops, performance
activism etc)
Organising campaigns (eg, rallies, petitions,•
letters, phone calls, meetings)
Host community meals for homeless people•
Western Sydney has close connections to some of the most important
humanitarian issues Australia currently faces. Western Sydney has the
highest concentration of young refugees in NSW, with 67% of refugee
families settling in Western Sydney (Emsley & Srivastava, 2010), it is
home to the largest urban Indigenous communities in Australia and
has a large proportion of immigration from developing countries (ABS,
2011). Consequently, not only were participants passionate about these
issues, many had personal experiences with them that both shaped their
views and brought depth to these discussions.

26. 48 49
Seven of the What’s Up West? forum participants were young refugees
in community detention: two from Sri Lanka and five from Afghanistan.
These young people were in a closed detention centre in Pontville in
Tasmania before being relocated to Sydney. Their descriptions of their
journeys to Australia and through the Australian immigration process
highlighted a few issues around the welfare of young refugees.
Firstly, the Government should ensure there are no young people in
closed detention. Despite an affirmation in 2005 that closed detention
be used as a last resort for young people, there still remain a large
number of young people in closed detention.
As of September 2013, there were 1,428 young
people in closed detention centres around
Australia, (Australian Human Rights Commission
[AHRC], 2013).
The negative effects of closed detention on a person’s mental health
are well documented. According to a recent report, in last 2 years,
Australian immigration detention facilities have recorded 4,313 incidents
of actual, threatened and attempted serious self-harm (Commonwealth
Ombudsman, 2013). A study by headspace (2012) found that 80% of
young people who have been in closed detention for more than two
years were diagnosed with multiple psychological disorders, compared
to only 5% at the time of arrival.
Anecdotal evidence from the refugee participants support these
findings. They described their experiences in closed detention as
grave, prison-like and wholly unwelcoming. These conditions are not
acceptable for any person, let alone young people. It is therefore
recommended that:
a. The Australian Government make every effort to ensure no
young person be kept in closed detention
Secondly, Australia needs more comprehensive legislation on how to
treat unaccompanied minors in immigration detention. The AHRC (2013)
report says that at 5 September 2013, there were 227 unaccompanied
minors in closed detention, most of whom were detained in the Pontville
detention centre, which has since been shut down. The seven refugees
at the What’s Up West? forum were among the young people that were
moved from closed detention in Pontville into community detention in
late September 2013.
What the Government Can Do
The Federal and NSW Governments provide additional1.
support for young refugees in detention, specifically in
areas of health, mental health and education
“I’m from Sri Lanka. My mum
and dad are in Sri Lanka.
I am the only one here.
I like to play cricket and volleyball”
Although this is a positive outcome for those
young refugees, this was as a result of a specific
Minister making an executive decision rather than a
reflection of policy. Current legislation does not set
guidelines for how Ministers and the Department of
Immigration should treat unaccompanied minors.
In fact, the very structure of the current legislation
disincentivises Ministers from making decisions that
are in the interests of young refugees. As it currently
stands, the Minister for Immigration is the legal
guardian of all ‘non-citizen’ unaccompanied minors
(AHRC, 2013). This role conflicts with the Minister’s
primary role to administer detention under the
Migration Act. Both the AHRC and the Parliamentary
Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration
Detention Network (2012) have recommended that
the guardianship of unaccompanied minors be
transferred to an independent body. In conjunction
with the previous recommendation that all young
people not be kept in closed detention, this
seems to be an appropriate solution. It is therefore
recommended that:
b. The guardianship of ‘non-citizen’
unaccompanied minors be transferred from
the Minister of Immigration to an
independent body that acts in the interests of
those young people
Lastly, the quality of services for young refugees
in detention is currently inadequate and requires
a drastic revamp. According to the Parliamentary
Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration
Detention Network (2012) report, key services in
the areas of legal, health and education support
are currently not meeting demand and are of very
low standard. The Committee attributes this to the
contractor, Serco Australia Pty Ltd, not upholding
their contractual obligations to provide such services.
This, again, is supported by anecdotal evidence from
the young refugee participants. They reported that
they only received English-language education when
transferred into community detention, where external
organisations were more able to interact with them.
This inhibits their ability to more fully integrate with
Australian society. It is therefore recommended that:
c. A fuller survey of services for young refugees
in detention be undertaken and any gaps in
service be amended
d. All young refugees in detention be
given English-language education
as soon as possible

27. 50 51
Unethical trade practices in developing countries, like child labour
and slavery, are propped up by the consumption of these goods and
services in advanced countries like Australia. By being aware of the trade
practices of suppliers and only buying from those that pay and treat their
workers fairly, not only does money go to workers and their families but
it also creates demand for ethical labour and incentivises other suppliers
to treat their workers fairly too.
The NSW Government spends $15 billion a year on goods and services,
a sizable percentage of which is sourced from developing countries
(NSW Government, 2013). By implementing an ethical sourcing policy,
it can work to ensure the goods and services that it procures are not
funding child or slave labour.
On a national level, work is being done to combat slavery in the
Government’s supply chains. On 8 March 2013, Prime Minister Gillard
announced an Anti-Slavery Initiative, saying “the Department of Finance
and Deregulation will issue revised procurement guidance to reinforce
the need for specific actions or behaviours to eliminate the chances of
slavery being used in supply chains” (Department of Prime Minister and
Cabinet, 2013).
The NSW Government should also make a similar commitment. It
already has an environmental procurement policy, which requires
agencies to take into account environmental impacts when procuring
goods and services (Department of Finance). This is similar to the sort of
policy that would be required to combat slavery.
An anti-slavery procurement policy would require
agencies to look into whether child or slave labour
was used in the supply chain of goods and services
they wish to procure.
It is therefore recommended that:
a. The NSW Government introduce an anti-slavery procurement
policy to eliminate child or slave labour in its supply chains
2. The NSW Government legislate that government departments
and agencies procure goods and services from ethical sources,
without slave or child labour in their supply chain
Not Kind
Enough
50
40
30
20
10
0
What do You Think About the Current
Refugee Policy?
Just
Right
Not Strict
Enough
Don’t
Know
There were two Indigenous young people at the
What’s Up West? forum. One of them raised the
point that Indigenous young people are notoriously
underrepresented in youth forums. What’s Up West?
aimed to have 10% of its participants come from
Indigenous backgrounds. It proved to be more
difficult that expected for a few reasons. Firstly,
the forum was during the school holidays. Many
Indigenous young people in the area visit family in
rural areas during the holidays. Secondly, Indigenous
young people were underrepresented in the
channels we tried to market through: schools and
youth services. In the future, a specific Indigenous
engagement strategy should be adopted to reach a
proportionate representation of Indigenous young
people. This could include physically visiting to
schools that have a high number of Indigenous young
people and more actively engaging with services like
AIME that already work in this area.
Similarly, in this vein of conversation, young
people at the forum reported that there was an
underrepresentation of Indigenous young people
in most of their youth leadership programs, like in
school SRCs and youth councils. It is expected that
they too have obstacles that make it more difficult
for them to engage Indigenous young people. But
it’s also possible that this could be a consequence of
not having explicit strategies to engage them. It is
therefore recommended that:
a. School SRCs and local youth councils be
required to develop specific strategies to
engage Indigenous young people
3. The NSW Government encourage
young Indigenous leadership and
engagement in Western Sydney
Yes Maybe No
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Should Australia be Giving More in Foreign Aid?
Response

28. 5352
Facilitated by the Youth Advisory Group
at headspace Mt Druitt and Parramatta
Key Issues
Promoting positive mental health•
Talking about mental health•
Stigma•
Depression, anxiety, suicide•
Supporting friends and family•
What Individuals Can Do
Speaking openly about mental health•
Look after personal mental health with•
exercise, meditation etc
Being aware of the mental health of people•
around you
According to a 2011 report on young people’s health and wellbeing,
9% of young Australians aged 16–24 years reported high or very high
levels of psychological distress and one in four experienced at least one
mental disorder. In terms of mortality, mental health is the single largest
health issue for young people. Suicide kills more young people a year
than road accidents, disease or drugs and alcohol. Participants in both
the forum and consultations felt incredibly strongly about this issue, the
vast majority of them personally knowing someone who had suffered a
form of mental illness.
What the Community Can Do
Start and support movements to raise•
awareness and break stigma
Host events to fundraise and speak about•
mental illness and health

29. 54 55
Although most young people in the forum and consultations knew a
fair bit about mental health concepts (eg, strategies for positive mental
health and signs of depression and anxiety), when asked about how
to access mental health services, very few knew who to talk to or what
accessing these services required. It was mentioned that even though
young people know the symptoms of poor mental health and that they
should “ask for help” when they or someone they know are struggling,
most do not know where to find that help.
This finding is supported by past research. Rates of young people
accessing mental health services are significantly lower than other
age groups. Only 23% of young people aged 16–24 years who were
diagnosed with a 12-month mental disorder accessed health services,
compared with 38% for those aged 25 years and over (AIHW, 2011).
This number is far more pronounced when broken down by gender
(headspace, 2011).
According to headspace, around 31 per cent of young
women and only 13 per cent of young men with mental
health problems had sought any professional help.
This low rate of seeking professional help can be attributed to 1) a lack
of knowledge on where and how to access professional help and 2)
a stigma among young people around seeking help. The problem of
stigma will be examined in the second recommendation. In relation to
a lack of knowledge, young people in the consultations suggested that
awareness campaigns be run to educate the public on what their rights
are when it comes to accessing mental health services and where to look
for a service that suits them. It was therefore recommended that:
a. The NSW Government invest in an awareness campaign that
aims to educate young people on how and where they can
access mental health services
What the Government Can Do
The NSW Department of Health launch awareness1.
campaigns on how to access mental health services
A big topic of discussion in both the forum and
consultations was the stigma around having mental
health problems and seeking professional help. Many
young people said that the language used around
seeking help implied that the person seeking help
was somehow weak or unable to cope with their
own problems. This language is not just used by the
media but also by teachers, parents and peers.
A way to break down this stigma, according to the
young people, is to change the culture of schools,
from spaces of social and academic competition to a
place where young people are able to express their
individuality and seek support for whatever needs
they have for their personal development.
Having needs in the area of mental
health should not be treated any
differently by schools than having
academic or physical needs.
School-based approaches are found to be effective
in reducing stigma and increasing the general mental
health of students. A 2011 report by Urbis and the
Department of Education looked at a range of mental
health strategies in schools across Australia, New
Zealand, the US, UK and Canada. It found seven
factors that were related to greater efficacy:
2. The NSW Department of Education and Communities ensure all
schools in NSW develop and implement a mental health policy
• aimed at promoting mental health rather than
preventing mental illness
• involve the whole school and include changes
to the school’s environment
• assist students to develop adaptive, cognitive
and behaviour strategies
• involve parents and the wider community
• take into account the age and gender
of the children
• are implemented over a long period of time
(continuously for more than one year)
• allow for periodic follow-up of positive
interventions (also described as ‘booster
sessions’) in order to maintain positive
outcomes and counter the evidence that
affect sizes (statistical measure of the impacts
of interventions on wellbeing outcomes)
decrease over time (Department of
Education and Communities, 2011)
It is therefore recommended that:
a. All schools in NSW develop and implement a
mental health strategy that aligns with both
best practice evidence in scientific
literature and with the specific needs of
their school

30. 56 57
In the school consultations, there was a sentiment among many
students that their school counsellor(s) were not as available as they
should be and that their teachers, by and large, were awkward or felt
unequipped to speak about mental health issues.
According to a report by the DET, as of 2011, there are 790 school
counsellors working in NSW public schools (Department of Education
and Training, 2011). This is approximately one counsellor for every
1030 students. Compared to other states in Australia, this is a fairly
average ratio but according to both anecdotal evidence from students
and recent reports from the DET, this is not enough to satisfy the
demand for counselling and psychological services in schools.
There are a few possible solutions to this problem. Firstly, the DET
could change the requirements for being a school counsellor in the
public school sector. Currently, the pathway to becoming a school
counsellor requires a four-year education degree with a major in
psychology (an extra three years if the prospective counsellor did not
complete their education degree with a psychology major), two years
teaching experience and a further two years to complete the school
counsellor certification.
All together, it takes a minimum of eight to eleven
years to become an accredited school counsellor.
This is an arduous process, by any measure. An indirect effect of this
lengthy process is that school counsellors are usually older teachers
that want a change from the classroom that does not involve moving
into a management role. The median age for school counsellors
in NSW is 52, compared to 47, the median all teachers in NSW.
Furthermore, 32% of school counsellors are over retirement age
and another 20% will be reaching retirement age in the next 5 years
(Department of Education and Training, 2011). This is indicates a dire
need to recruit younger school counsellors.
3. The NSW Department of Education and
Communities clarify the roles teacher and school
counsellors play in mental healthcare in schools
Easing the requirements of becoming a school
counsellor without impacting on quality is
conversation that should be had in the DEC. It is
therefore recommended that:
a. The DEC conduct a review of the school
counsellor accreditation process to
encourage more teachers and education
students to undertake the school
counsellor pathway
Another possible solution would be to have
registered psychologists in schools as a supplement
to school counsellors. Registered psychologists
already operate in many private and independent
schools and, in these sectors, there is a growing
trend to outsource some of the functions of a school
counselor to an external registered psychologist.
Although they may not have a background in
education, registered psychologists have the
advantage of having knowledge in clinical practice
as well as being able to provide additional support
in counselling, conducting psychometric tests and
creating school-wide reports on the wellbeing of
students. It is therefore recommended that:
b. The public school system look into
encouraging the use of registered
psychologists as a supplement for
school counsellors
The final possible solution involves training all
teachers in the basics of mental healthcare. Teachers
are the biggest human resource the schooling
system has and have far more face-time with
students than any school counsellor or psychologist
can. Compulsory mental health training will make
preventative and early intervention strategies more
effective and is an important step towards changing
the culture of schools to break the stigma around
mental health problems. Compulsory training already
exists in that all teachers in NSW must also hold a
valid first aid certificate. It is not too demanding that
all teachers also undertake a similar short course
like youth mental health first aid, for example. It is
therefore recommended that:
c. All teachers in NSW undertake a compulsory
short course on mental health
Yes Maybe No
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Have You or Someone You Know
Experienced Mental Illness?
Response

31. 58 59

32. 60 61
This year has been pivotal for the What’s Up West?
project. As well as undergoing a major rebrand, we
have also made some fairly foundational changes to
the aims and scope of the project.
Prior to this year, the What’s Up West? project
was simply a forum event, followed by a report.
This year, we also ran extensive consultations in
schools and youth services across Western Sydney.
This is important for three reasons: to engage a
wider range of young people in the consultation
process, to establish What’s Up West? as a credible,
evidence-based report and to mark a shift in the
way this project conceptualises and operationalises
meaningful youth engagement.
On the point of volume, our vision is that What’s Up
West? engage with as many young people in Western
Sydney as possible and, more specifically, engage
with young people that represent the diversity of
Western Sydney. To realise this vision, we discovered
that we needed to change the way we engaged with
young people.
Hosting a forum attracts a very specific sort of
young person, usually those that are politically
aware and already connected to some sort
of leadership structure, whether that be their
school’s SRC or local council’s youth committee.
Although these young people provide a valuable
perspective, they by no means fully represent all
young people in Western Sydney.
In order to engage with a broader
cross-section of young people, we
found it more effective to meet
young people in their spaces (at
school and local youth services)
rather than try getting them to
come to us.
The other area to look at in the future is the quality
of engagement and expected outputs of the
project. Not only do we want to consult with young
people, we also want to empower them with the
skills and knowledge to create community change.
This involves targeted skills workshops and other
opportunities for self-development.
One way of uniting these aims of consultation
and empowerment is to have a two-phase youth
engagement strategy, wherein the first half involves
consultations and social change workshops in schools
and youth services and, from there, hosting a larger
event (like the What’s Up West? forum) which builds
on the momentum of the smaller consultations. The
forum can then be more targeted towards young
people who already have a specific idea of how they
want to create community change. We can then tailor
the workshops and keynote sessions to fit in with their
development needs.
And, because we have engaged
a broad range of young people
during the consultations, we are not
sacrificing diversity and quantity for
quality of discussion.
Furthermore, to make the forum more directed and
to incentivise involvement, we plan to partner with
Youth Action’s DIY Reality Youth Grants Program. At
the end of the forum, certain participants can apply
for funding to make their community project idea a
reality. The details of this process still needs to be
determined but having tangible forum outputs in the
form of youth-led projects that can be supported and
evaluated is a step in the right direction and definitely
a model that What’s Up West? will be moving towards
in the future.
Schools and
Youth Service
Consulatations
What’s Up
West? Forum
DIY Reality
Youth Grants
Program

33. 62 63
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who
was involved with What’s Up West 2013 including:
Sponsors:
Piranha Chips•
Bloomsbury•
AMF•
The NSW Commission for Children •
and Young People
Ripcurl•
Powerhouse Museum•
Officeworks•
Beyond Blue•
Presenters
Candy Royalle•
Anna Rose•
Meg Clement-Couzner•
Dr Jo Milne-Holme•
Terrence Humphreys and Twenty10•
Andrew Cummings and MYAN•
Nicole Austin and the MCA•
Mark Garder and the RoboGals team•
Elias Nohra and CuriousWorks•
Kelsey Cooke and GetUp!•
Ariadna Klein and VibeWire•
Viv Benjamin, Hilary Viney and the Oaktree•
Foundation
Eliza Scarpellino and Amnesty Australia•
Omar Musa•
Miriam Lyons•
Ammy Singh and the Global Poverty Project•
Luke Egan, Carla Browne and the Mt Druitt•
headspace YAG
Performers
Ary Forbes•
Paul Luna, Com4unity and the Blacktown•
SWITCH crew
Merlin Twist•
Sophia Mitkovic•
Friends of Salvador•
Emily Duncan•
Aleisha McDonald•
Douniya Drumming•
Minister
Minister Victor Dominello•
Youth Action Staff and Volunteers
Emily Jones•
Eamon Waterford•
Sophie Trower•
Jake Formosa•
Bridie Moran•
Emma-Lee Crane•
Special Thanks To
Alex Long•
Brigid Dixon•
Melody Gardiner•
for their hard work, creativity and perseverance.
This conference and report could not have
happened without you.
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By Lawrence Muskitta
December 2013