Tweed Shire Youth Council

The first meeting of the 2018 Tweed Shire Youth Council has been held with members outlining their concerns and goals for the year ahead.

The Youth Council, now in its third year, is an initiative of the Tweed Shire Youth Strategy and Action Plan 2013-2017.

It is made up of representatives from public and private high schools in Tweed Shire who meet on a monthly basis to express views on youth oriented matters, while also providing opportunities for the development of communication, confidence and leadership skills.

Jazmine Cook of Tweed River High School was elected as Chair at the meeting and said she is looking forward to the experience.

“I decided to join the YC to gain more knowledge and experience of how a council works and also to hopefully make a difference in our community,” Jazmine said.

“I feel the group we have this year is very strong and I think we may be able to make a difference in youth homelessness and mental illness in the youth community.”

Jaime Coetzee of Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School was elected Deputy Chair and also spoke about her desire to have a positive impact.

“I am hoping to assist with the prevalent issue of homelessness in the tweed,” Jaime said.

“I am also excited to understand how the Tweed Council operates and makes their decisions.”

Council General Manager Troy Green was on hand to welcome the group and asked each member directly what youth-oriented services they would like to see established or improved in the local area.

Council Youth Development Officer Sylvia Roylance said the group’s answers, which ranged from transport to mental health and homeless services, showed them to be engaged members of the community.

“On first impression they are all very insightful as to what is going on around them and definitely full of energy and confidence,” Ms Roylance said.

“The Youth Council is a great way to expose young people to a formal meeting environment and gives a lot of insight into how local government works, potentially opening up career pathways they may not have been aware of.

“As we enter the third year of the program it is great to see the support these kids are getting from their schools which are starting to see the impact of the program as an extension of the leadership roles they encourage students to take on.”

The 2018 Tweed Shire Youth Council is made up of: Jazmine Cook (Chair), Corey Cox and Matthew Lewis (Tweed River High), Jaime Coetzee (Deputy Chair, Lindisfarne), Nava Bergman, Ethan Graham and Jasper Tiffen (Murwillumbah High School), Chloe Palin and Zoe Nethery (St Joseph’s College), Hannah Carmody and Jessica Maloney (Wollumbin High School) and Jack Lee and Joshua Carpenter (Banora Point High School).

The 2017 Tweed Shire Youth Council held its final meeting on Wednesday 22 November, with delegates taking full advantage of their last opportunity to discuss issues affecting local youth with Councillors and Executive Staff.

The discussion focused on youth mental health issues and environmental concerns before delegates provided feedback on the Youth Council process and suggestions for the future.

Mt St Patrick College delegate Jesse Wright said mental health was a significant issue in the school community.

“I know there are opportunities out there for students to seek help but I don’t feel like there are enough opportunities for kids to seek help from people their own age or from a truly anonymous source where things don’t end up on the record,” Jesse said.

“I’ve spoken to kids who may one day want to be in the Army or other similar positions and that ends up being a huge barrier towards ending up seeking help for whatever reason.

“I feel like in communities there isn’t enough support for students who just need someone to talk to or some other way of unloading that stress and anxiety.”

Their discussion about environmental concerns focused on raising awareness of waste and different ways this could be achieved.

Talia Green from Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School put forward a number of ideas for competitions which would send a positive message.

“I love competitions, I really do,” Talia said.

“People in schools could monitor their consumption of waste for perhaps a week and whoever uses the least, or people coming up with the best plan for their school, that could be a competition.”

Oscar Winters from St Joseph College said their Principal had already started to raise the issue of waste at their school.

“He has spoken to us in meetings about how to get students to be more proactive about putting rubbish in the bin.

“He was thinking of the idea of getting a huge plastic bag and filling it with the rubbish that happens in one week to show students how much rubbish is collected.”

Following the discussion Tweed Shire Council General Manager Troy Green thanked the students for their participation, saying he looked forward to seeing them in leadership roles in the future.

Drug and alcohol awareness training for students and mental health first aid were leading topics as this year’s Tweed Shire Youth Council members started to outline their key projects for the year.

Mt St Patricks College and St Joseph’s College representative both explained their progress to introduce the Save-a-Mate program on drug and alcohol education to their schools, when the Youth Council met at the Murwillumbah Council Chambers on 24 May.

St Joseph’s College representatives Lucy Neilson-Senise and Oscar Winters raised concerns about the carefree attitude of many young people to drugs and their general lack of knowledge about the long-term effects.

The duo introduced a questions box for drug enquiries by students and received an overwhelming response.

Visit the Document Library to read their full report.

Mt St Patricks College delegate Jesse Wright told the meeting he had arranged to have the Red Cross Save-a-Mate workshop held at his school in June. The workshop would be open to Year 10 and 11 students and might require a second session because interest among students had exceeded the program’s maximum number of participants per workshop.

Jesse said he was also investigating options to provide mental health first aid training to students at his school.

The training would teach students to offer initial help and support for someone experiencing mental health problems, until professional help was received.

Jesse’s full presentation is also available in the Documents Library.

A new community transport service for young people was explained at the second meeting of the 2017 Tweed Shire Youth Council.

The Cruisin’ Youth service has been introduced by Tweed, Byron & Ballina Community Transport for people aged 12 to 18.

Cruisin’ Youth Coordinator Tamara Moon told the meeting the service provided door-to-door transport for Tweed youth to access social and recreation activities outside school hours, including weekends and school holidays.

Tamara said the bus service can take groups of eight or more youths to the locations of their choice - such as the beach, theme parks, shopping centres, galleries – including trips to Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

For more information visit www.facebook.com/cruisinyouth, email cruisinyouth@gmail.com or phone 0423 739757.

Members of the 2017 Tweed Shire Youth Council took the chance to watch democracy in action by attending Community Access before Tweed Shire Council's May Planning Committee meeting.

Joining Council's Community Development Officer - Families and Youth, Sylvia Roylance, were (from left) Josh Carpenter and Maddison Uitendaal from Banora Point High School, and Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School students Talia Green and Will Griffiths.

The Tweed Shire Youth Council is a leading objective of the Tweed Youth Strategy and Action Plan 2013-2017.

The four-year plan addresses the issues and aspirations of Tweed Shire’s diverse community of young people and identifies shared solutions and priorities to make the Tweed a great place for young people to live, work and ‘hang out’.

The Strategy is Council’s plan to help young people achieve this goal, based on the concepts of capacity building, partnership and empowerment.