Children & Young Persons Consultative Council Fact Sheet

General

Under the Section 81 and Schedule 2 of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997 in my role as Commissioner a Children and Young Persons Consultative Council must be established.

The Council is a group of children and young people under the age of 18 who share their views with the Commissioner for Children.

To this end the Commissioner’s preference is to consult widely with a broad range of children representing, as far as possible, diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The Council members have been selected from secondary and primary schools in each of the four Department of Education areas to be involved in the consultation process. 

Ideally, consultations will utilise current structures, such as the Student Representative Council meetings at four schools within each area, from both primary and secondary schools (including high and district high schools), to provide information and advice to the Commissioner on a regular basis.

To ensure that a range of views from children and young people are captured each year I select different schools to take part.

Member Schools

This year there will be over 200 children and young people from nine schools who are taking part in the Consultative Council. 

The member schools are:

• Cressy District High School – high and primary school
• Lilydale District High School – high and primary school
• Taroona High School
• The Friends School
• Penguin High School
• Geilston Bay High School
• Goulburn Street Primary School
• Montello Primary School
• St Pauls Catholic School

The Commissioner will meet with twelve different groups of children and young people over nine schools in 2013 with the aim to gather views from as many children and young people as possible.

Each of the consultative council groups will take the issues to the wider school communities and provide feedback to the Commissioner.

The two main issues that the Commissioner will discuss with the groups this year are:

• A Smoke Free Generation, and
• Outcomes of the ‘Listen UP: views of children and young people talking about their lives in Tas.’

Smoke Free Generation

The Minister for Children, Michelle O’Byrne, has requested the Commissioner to engage with young Tasmanians about the opportunity for Tasmania to promote a smoke free generation as part of the government’s agenda to denormalise smoking for young people.  The Consultative Council is one way of getting children and young people’s views on this issue.

Listen UP: views of children and young people talking about their lives

The project was a major research study on what children and young people considered important to their wellbeing conducted in 2012. 

The final report will be released in April this year and the Commissioner will bring the four key issues from the project to the consultative council to get their views on ways Tasmania can address the issues.

Previous Projects and Issues

Some of the projects and issues that we have discussed with previous Childrens Consultative Councils are:

• A research project ‘Listen UP: the views of children and young people about their lives’, which has involved engaging children and young people from 5 to 17 years of age in surveys or other activities to determine what is important and what worries children and young people in Tasmania.  The Consultative Council assisted in developing content and the format of the surveys as well as being participants.
• The issue of legislation in Tasmania around tattooing and piercing for children and young people under the age of 18 years of age.
• The issue of social media and supporting the safe use of technology rather than preventing access to different social media.  Some of the members of the Consultative Council were part of a DVD that was used to present young people’s views at a ‘Facing Up to Facebook’ Forum held for organisations working with young people.

Children and Young Persons Consultative Council

Commissioner announces the new Children’s Consultative Council for 2013

The Commissioner has today announced the selection of the Children’s Consultative Council for 2013.
The Council is a group of children and young people under the age of 18 who share their views with the Commissioner for Children.

This year there are over 200 children and young people from nine schools across Tasmania who will be taking part in the Consultative Council.

The Commissioner said “it is my preference to consult widely with a broad range of children and young people representing, as far as possible, diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.”

Ideally the Commissioner is utilising current structures, such as the Student Representative Council meetings at four schools within each Department of Education area, from both primary and secondary schools (including high and district high schools), to provide information and advice to the Commissioner on a regular basis.

This year the council has been broadened to include two private schools, one primary and one high school.

“In the past the consultative council has provided valuable feedback to me on legislation around tattooing and piercing of children, assisted with developing surveys for the Listen UP project which is about the views of children and young people on what is important to them and were  involved in a social media forum,” the Commissioner said.

The nine schools for 2013 are:

• Cressy District High School – high, middle and primary groups
• Lilydale District High School – primary and high group
• Taroona High School
• The Friends School – high school group
• Penguin High School
• Geilston Bay High School
• Goulburn Street Primary School
• Montello Primary School
• St Pauls Catholic School

The Consultative Council will look at two issues this year.  The first will be to consider ‘A Smoke Free Generation’ at the request of the Minister for Children and the second will be to look at the key issues highlighted in the Listen Up research project which gathered the views of children and young people about what is important to them in their lives.

“I look forward to working with all the children and young people on the consultative council and ensuring that their voices are heard.”

Children and Young Persons Consultative Council for 2012

Childhood Injury Prevention Advisory Council

Childhood Injury Prevention Advisory Council. Front (LtoR): Julia Fassina (RLSS Tas), Aileen Ashford (Commissioner for Children), Jenny Branch (Kidsafe Tas) Back (LtoR): Anne Boxhall (Delta Dog Safe Tas), Anne French (Dept of Ed), Mark Green (Early Years Foundation), Anne Kile (Aurora Energy), Dr Anagha Jayakar (Paediatric RHH), Andrea Petrie (Popn Health, DHHS)

The Council provides advice to the Commissioner on Childhood Injury rates and early intervention injury prevention initiatives and public awareness strategies.

Latest ChIPAC Communique

Member organisations of the Council are:

• Commissioner for Children (chair)
• Tasmanian Fire Service
• Kidsafe Tasmania
• Delta Dog Safe Tasmania
• Department of Infrastructure, Environment and Resources
• Royal Life Saving Society Tasmania
• Tasmanian Early Years Foundation
• Department of Education, Early Years
• Paediatric Medical Royal Hobart Hospital, DHHS
• Child Health and Parenting Service, DHHS
• Carers Tasmania
• Population Health, DHHS
• PASS Inc