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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-29 Daily Xml
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Youth Action Plan

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding young people.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: COVID-19 has caused thousands of young South Australians to lose jobs, lose hours and change their study arrangements. Economic crises, particularly unemployment, disproportionately affect younger people. The minister released the Youth Action Plan on 17 April, on a Friday afternoon in the middle of the COVID-19 emergency and more than two years after coming to government. The Youth Action Plan has no mention of coronavirus, COVID-19 or a pandemic. It does not appear to have been updated from its pre-pandemic draft. My questions to the minister are:

1. How was the feedback from the final consultation that closed on 14 April considered and included in the final plan that was released just three days later on 17 April?

2. Does the minister believe the plan adequately addresses the needs of young people if it doesn't address the biggest emergency since the Great Depression?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:50): I thank the honourable member for his question. I do find it a little ironic that the Labor Party is criticising the release of the plan, given that I think they asked me a question earlier this year about where was the plan.

As well as all the scrambling, a bit of a white-knuckle ride for a lot of ministers in terms of preparation and ensuring that people are adequately cared for through this coronavirus crisis, there is still work that has been going on in the background. We had done a lot of work in terms of the preparation for the development of the three-year plan, which had been something that the youth sector had asked for—a three-year plan instead of an annual plan—so that there was that longevity and certainty to it which they could point to.

There are four key priorities in the plan which young people told us they wanted. That included earning and learning, being fair and inclusive, wellbeing, environment, and connecting and growing. Most of the people in the age group are in that category of either earning and learning, so clearly their focus is on ensuring that they have the greatest opportunity to have an education that prepares them for life and sets them up for their future; so we were very pleased to release that.

We consulted with some 500 young people through the YourSAy platform and also through direct consultation with a group of young people who could nominate themselves and then were selected by random ballot to contribute to this plan, so we believe it represents a comprehensive approach across government to young peoples' futures. Necessarily, it involves all agencies which have a lot of contact with young people which includes, clearly, education, industry and skills, and mental health, I think I heard my colleague the Minister for Health and Wellbeing quite recently talking about additional funding for young peoples' mental health.

I think the honourable member in his comments is trying to imply that the plan should have included some reference to COVID. I would like to point out that these strategic plans are very much a blueprint for where we would like things to be. If I can refer to the domestic violence plan, Committed to Safety, we see that as a living document. It is certainly adapted as new information and new funding becomes available and so it provides us with that roadmap to where young people want to be.

In terms of the COVID response, I have read media reports that there are a lot of young people who have been impacted by this through their working arrangements. Clearly, they are in industries that have been vulnerable, such as hospitality and the like. There has been a lot of support provided to workers, both by the federal government and through the state government, with our particular funding arrangements. There have been various packages to various industries. For young people, into the future the best thing that we can provide to them economically is that we have a soft landing in South Australia for our economy so that those jobs return as soon as possible.

The overall management of this pandemic in South Australia has been at the forefront of all jurisdictions, and I would say quite proudly that I think we have done a great job. I particularly commend the Chief Public Health Officer, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Premier, the Treasurer and a range of people across government—our hardworking Public Service—to ensure that South Australia is well placed through this pandemic. Nobody wants to see industries go by the by through this process. We need to be careful, and for young people into the future, they want to get back into education, they want to get back into their jobs, so having managed this process as well as could possibly be expected is the best outcome that we could give them.

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