Our latest Supplement has been published in the MJA! It was the culmination of hard work from over 60 authors and included five fantastic papers focused on ‘Participating’ for the health and well-being of children and young people.
The Supplement also featured a consensus statement outlining the eight core policy actions and accompanying measures that the Countdown is calling for to improve outcomes by 2030. These were a result of a consensus-building process with 50 experts and will be formally launched next year after the federal election.
MEDIA LAUNCH AND ADVOCACY
On World Children’s Day (Nov 20th), Dr Monique Ryan and some of Australia’s leading young voices joined us at Parliament House in Canberra for a media launch of the Supplement and to call on the Federal Government to extend the compulsory voting age to 16years. Our call was picked up by major news outlets, including SBS, The Project, and SkyNews.
Lowering the voting age is the core policy action related to the ‘Participating’ domain in the Countdown. We were thrilled to have the support of 11 organisations who agreed that implementing this change would empower young people and strengthen Australia’s political system, redistribute power and help tackle rising inequities.
Whilst in Canberra, we also met with seven MPs from all major parties to discuss the voting age policy action and the Countdown more broadly.
WEBINAR LAUNCH
At the online launch of the ‘Participating’Supplement, we were fortunate to hear insights from Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, alongside five authors from the Supplement. A big thank you to everyone who took part.
