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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-15 Daily Xml
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OFFICE FOR YOUTH A-TEAM

Mr KENYON (Newland) (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Youth. Can the minister inform the house about Dr Genevieve Bell and her work with the A-Team, which was made up of young people from the state's Riverland, and do they still love it when a plan comes together?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Gambling, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:09): Yes, Mr Speaker, I can. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting anthropologist and former Adelaide Thinker in Residence Dr Genevieve Bell. Dr Bell is currently Director of User Experience at Intel in the United States.

During her residency, Dr Bell met and worked with the Office for Youth A-Team, which was made up of 10 young people from the Riverland. A-Teams are groups of young people who come together, with support from the Office For Youth, to investigate and make recommendations on key policy issues. They bring a youth perspective to issues facing government and communities in South Australia by creating a mini think tank through which innovative and challenging ideas are generated.

The A-Team focused on engaging young people with information and communication technology to build and connect regional communities. The team participated in a series of mentoring sessions (that is, teaching people older than them to use technology), speaker panels and facilitated discussions with experts from government, industry and community. The team had the unique opportunity to work with Dr Genevieve Bell during two workshops.

The A-Team looked at how young people are using information technology to communicate, whether that be Twitter, SMS, Facebook, My Space, and other social networking formats. Other issues discussed included what were the barriers to and opportunities for further technology uptake in the Riverland region and how technology can be used to build and connect communities in the Riverland region.

I am pleased to advise that the government is progressively working through the A-Team's recommendations, which include utilising effective e-learning to improve the amount and accessibility of educational resources and courses in Riverland high schools and establishing a website where the public can participate in government consultations, communication with members of parliament and watch parliament discussions. I am sure that will involve some new skills being developed by some members of parliament who may not be as user friendly with new technology. I am sure that the opposition spokesman for youth can help people with that.

During my discussions with Dr Bell she told me how impressed she was to work with such a diverse, switched-on and driven group of young people. She applauded the Office for Youth for having its own Facebook page, which the opposition criticised. She commended the office for its forward thinking.

The Hon. I.F. Evans: Criticised the website.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, you criticised the Facebook page. Dr Bell's residency in Adelaide finished earlier this month. I will check the Hansard, but I am pretty sure that the opposition spokesman said that he thought the Facebook page was inappropriate for its lolly-counting jar that was on the page. I am sure that if he is wrong he will apologise as well.

Dr Bell's residency in Adelaide finished earlier this month. I am delighted that she gave her time to work with the Riverland's A-Team and I am confident that her recommendations will be taken into account when IT and communications decisions are made by this government. Dr Bell has an—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Maybe by Twitter. Dr Bell has an exceptional reputation in her field and her research provides considerable insight into the adaptation of technology in everyday lives. I would like to officially thank Dr Bell and the A-Team for their work this year.

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