Image courtesy of Tourism   Queensland

Australia’s Youth Infront was the theme of Year of the Outback 2006. This theme focused on Australia’s youth, their contribution and key role in the future of Australia; their thoughts, concerns, dreams and aspirations.

The Australian Government partnered up with the Australian Outback Development Consortium, to find out what rural youth see as the important issues facing them in rural, regional and remote Australia. This project also gave young people the opportunity to provide innovative ideas and recommendations on how these issues can be addressed by government, rural industries, and communities.

The views and recommendations of rural youth were compiled into the report ‘Outback Youth Infront, Their Voice – Australia’s Future’.

Key findings of the report:
· Most participants imagined they would still be living in regional and rural Australia in the next 10-20 years;
· Participants noted there were many advantages to living in rural and regional Australia with lifestyle and community stated as the best aspects;
· The top three issues identified as important to young people were employment, community and education;
· Ideas and solutions as stated by rural youth:

Issue	Areas for improvement	Recommended solutions
Employment	Better professional development opportunities; Wider promotion of jobs available; and Attracting and retaining medical professionals to regional Australia.	Information packs for organisations on how to run successful training programs; Create a job database for the local area; Research and highlight current infrastructure / support issues that may currently act as a deterrent to medical professionals..
Community	Increase social and professional networks and interaction opportunities for young people.	Link and consolidate existing youth and rural networks through a central point; and Develop information on how to start a network.
Education	Education quality and uptake in rural areas; and Equal education opportunities for rural students.	Provide flexible training programs to address community needs and traveling education / career workshops; and increase industry partnerships with secondary and tertiary education institutes

Our thanks to those young people living / working in Regional, Rural and Remote Australia who took part in the Year of the Outback “Youth Infront” Australia Wide Survey and/ or Workshops.

Click here to view the ‘Outback Youth Infront, Their Voice – Australia’s Future’ Report.

Click here to view the ‘Outback Youth Infront, Their Voice – Australia’s Future’ Media Release.