Almost one-third of Moorabool residents are age 24 and below prompting council to draft a strategy outlining how it will assist in providing holistic support to young people within the municipality.
According to a council document the draft Young Communities Strategy 2024-2028 has been created to deliver a birth to 25 life journey plan, while ensuring all life stages of children, young people and their families are supported.
The plan incorporates and builds on two previous documents, council’s Youth Strategy and the Municipal Early Years Plan.
The plan is set around four key themes – Health and Wellbeing Services and Supports, Community Engagement and Participation, Education and Learning and Safety and Inclusion.
Within these themes the document outlines about a dozen “key priority areas” and within those more than 80 potential actions.
Influencing the strategy was a ‘have your say’ survey which found young people in the municipality value things like the library, playgrounds, a mix of sport activities, art programs and the YES program.
Biggest things young people identified as concerns or barriers included public transport, mental health, feeling safe in the community and accessing services.
Councillor Tom Sullivan criticised the draft.
“I’m disappointed in the report to be honest with you… There’s this thread of identity politics that runs through this which I find really distasteful, when you start identifying groups individually it stirs division and I just think that I thought we were above it.”
Councillor Rod Ward said he believes putting together a plan specifically for youth is a “great idea”.
“I’ve taken on board Councillor Sullivan’s comments and while I don’t necessarily disagree with them, what I do think is important is that we do treat everyone equally but we do need to find out in what sections of the community the greatest challenges lie so we can address those,” he said.
The draft strategy was passed by council and will go out for public exhibition and comment for four weeks, after which council will decide whether to formally adopt the plan in June or July.
