In 2017, YoungA21 is working on two projects. Smarter about Drugs: YoungA21 is collaborating with Australia21 on developing a drug education resource for schools and community groups that aims to encourage students to talk openly about drug and alcohol issues and how to influence policy in this area. Making the Future Work: YoungA21 is currently exploring ways to give young Australians a platform to speak about the pressing issue of work including through a potential digital campaign and roundtable event.

Australia21 held two youth roundtables on Refugee and Asylum Seeker Policy with young people aged 18-30 during 2014. On 5 May a roundtable was held in Canberra with support from the Crawford School at ANU, with 38 young people from the general public. On 2 July another roundtable was held with Settlement Services International (SSI) in Sydney with 35 young people, specifically of refugee and asylum seeker background. In both workshops we used a rich picture diagramming approach with participants—to understand their preferred futures around refugee and asylum seeker policy.

There is a growing recognition that Australia’s drug policy is not working, and it is young Australians who are most affected. Yet young people are seldom asked their views on these matters. To address this the Hawke Centre at the University of South Australia, The Ted Noffs Foundation and Australia21 co-hosted a “Smarter on drugs in schools” event on 7 May 2014.

Following increased debate on alcohol-fuelled violence in NSW, Young21, in partnership with the Ted Noffs Foundation, held a pop-up roundtable in Sydney on Thursday, 27 February. It was attended by young police officers, frontline medical professionals, nightclub industry workers and young party goers who considered the issue in consultation with .Dr Alex Wodak, an international expert on drug and alcohol abuse and a Director of Australia21
Nicholas Cowdery, former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Frank Hansen, former Local Area Commander, Rosehill, NSW Police Force, Tony Brown, Alcohol Community Actionproject (ACAP) Manager, Chairperson of the Newcastle Community Drug Action Team (CDAT). Communique coming soon.

We asked five young Australians what was important for the 2013 election agenda. While the elections are over, the commentary remains relevant for the government.