|
|
I have just returned from an interview with The Hon. Larry Anthony (Fed. Minister for Youth and Youth Affairs), run by Talkback Classroom (supported by the Parliamentary Education Office and the National Museum of Australia), (http://www.nma.gov.au/schools/events_and_activities/talkback_classroom/). One issue that touched my heart was the National Youth Round Table (NYRT). The Federal Government is spending just a little under $500,000 on the NYRT, which has been going now for 4 years and brings 50 young people together from across Australia and has allowed them to research a specific topic and create a project from that research. From this, there have been 8 successful recommendations in the last 4 years, only 8, of which only a few have a direct relevance to the Federal Government.
This year marks the increase of around 230% in the Promotions/Marketing budget for the NYRT since 2000 - up from $54,076 to $125,842. This increase has been in proportion to an overall increase of around $50k since the beginning of the project. With ONLY 8 successful outcomes, it seems that that the government is either - advertising a project which isn't being as successful as it could or should be, or it is taking money from a successful project to spend it on promoting a project while depleting its resources. While, quite ironically, the trend is that the number of young people applying to be involved in the program has dropped from 1021 YP in 2000 to around 650 in 2004.
The trend of expensive marketing is a lot present in both the National Youth Week program, where funding for "Marketing and Sponsorship" was $340,700 and then another $55k in 'Promotional Material" - a total of 58% of the National Youth Week budget! The National Indigenous Youth Leadership Group has had a funding increase of 500% in "Publicity, Promotion, Photography & Filming" from 2001/2 to 2003 while the overall budget has dropped by $10,000 (and again, ironically, the amount of applicants for the Group of 15 members dropped from 72 to 41 between 2001/2 to 2003)
The NYRT is, in the government’s eyes, a representative body of young people (YP) from Australia, and yet there were only 6 YP from Victoria and 12 from QLD, and every one of the people from Melbourne lives within 40km's of the CBD. How can it, in any way, represent the young people living in regional/rural Victoria??
I think the increase of spending on marketing for such programs and not spending this money on making effectual change for young people is a disgrace and an important issue, that the media seems unaware of, and even ignorant of, as the interview with Larry Anthony had this discussion over spending on publicity rather than change cut from the aired version. This is an issue the Australian Youth Organisations sector and all Australians, young and not so young, should be concerned with and, in light of no federally funded or recognized peak body to deal with these issues, one that seems to be glossed over by the government.
|
1
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Luke Bo'sher
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
Agree Matthew Norbury | May 6th, 2004
Luke, I agree.
It is good that the NYRT is available, however, how are those positions filled?
I've not seen nor participated in any election, though its members are there to represent my views.
A good point, and one wirth remedying!
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
