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From carer to youth advocate: youth driving change
9 Plays2 days ago
Friends!! This episode we sit down for a bit of a longer chat with award-winning youth advocate and former Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis. If you're a young person wondering what's in policy and politics for you, this episode is a MUST listen-to.
We break down where the journey to becoming a youth and social justice advocate actually begins, what it means to meaningfully participate in political systems and processes, and how you as a young person can start making change, today.
As always, if you're keen to learn more, give us a follow on our socials @forourfuturecampaign and @foundationsfortomorrow.
To take action, you can sign our petition for a federal Wellbeing of Future Generations Act here!
What's In It For You is a Foundations for Tomorrow podcast, produced as part of the 2025 For Our Future Campaign. It is hosted by Clare Beaton-Wells and Anna Bezzu.
Links and resources mentioned:
- Future Healthy Countdown 2030: https://www.aracy.org.au/future-healthy-countdown-2030/
- Future Healthy Countdown 2030 youth-led paper on power in decision-making: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/219/10/who-holds-power-decision-making-young-peoples-future
- Future Healthy Countdown 2030 Indigenous-led paper on the participation of Indigenous children and young people to improve health and wellbeing: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2024/221/10/participation-indigenous-children-and-young-people-improve-health-and-wellbeing
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Transcript
Acknowledgment and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This podcast is recorded on the traditional lands of the Camaragal people of New South Wales, Australia, as well as with our wonderful guest today on the land of the Watamagal people of the Darug Nation.
00:00:11
Speaker
As co-hosts, we pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past and present and acknowledge that intergenerational leadership and long-term practices of stewardship have been cornerstones of Indigenous cultures for thousands of years.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the podcast where we two young passionate Aussie women are breaking down why young people say in policy matters and what's truly in it for them when it comes to future generations policy and the Australian federal election this year.
00:00:43
Speaker
I'm Claire Beaton-Wells, a former political staffer, future generations champion and policy innovator. I'm passionate about inspiring young people to lead the charge when it comes to addressing our most complex challenges.
Systemic Barriers to Youth Participation
00:00:54
Speaker
And I'm Anna Bezu, a corporate early bridging business and impact, helping young people connect everyday choices to long-term change in society. Coming up on the show today, if you're one of the disillusioned, the disconnected, one of the ones feeling like there just really isn't anything in policy or politics for you, then you're gonna wanna tune in.
00:01:14
Speaker
We're gonna be breaking down all of the systemic barriers to meaningful youth participation, both literally and figuratively. We talk about why there is such growing distrust among young people with political leaders and institutions, and what meaningful really means in the context of youth participation in the policy process. With our guest, we're diving into the ways young people are actively defying the structural barriers holding them back and reshaping policies so that it works for everyone, not just older generations.
00:01:42
Speaker
By the end of this one, we truly hope that the only question you'll be left with is not, why should I engage? But why not? Today we're here not just to show you how much there is in policy and political participation for you, but to empower you to realise just how much your say matters and how essential your voice is to shaping a better future for Australia. yeah But as always, before diving into the policy and politicking, we'll be doing our tunnel vision check, looking at the latest short-termism we've seen in society, culture and politics, and how the outcome might have been different if the decision maker had considered a long-term impacts.
00:02:15
Speaker
So Anna, what's yours this week?
Impact of Trump's Tariffs
00:02:17
Speaker
All right, I'm talking about something I'm sure we're all aware of, given the shockwaves it's causing across the globe. Trump's recent tariffs on his self-proclaimed Liberation Day, air quotes included in that one,
00:02:28
Speaker
In the past week, President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all oil imports with higher rates targeting specific countries, including us here in Australia. The stated goal is to address trade imbalances and protect domestic industries, which, you know, at first glance, that sounds great.
00:02:43
Speaker
You know, protect the little guy, defend the people, reclaim the power from the global giants. However, when we, and I mean the experts, assess their long-term impacts, several concerns seem to emerge.
00:02:56
Speaker
First of all, inflation. Those extra costs aren't going to be contained in the US. It doesn't appear to be that way. Anyway, these tariffs will hit the pockets of consumers everywhere. Price hikes on goods from electronics to clothing are already seeming to be on the horizons. So it's really the everyday people who feel this thing the most, the ones that these tariffs are supposedly intended to protect.
00:03:19
Speaker
And let's not forget about retaliation. When we start, or when anyone starts to slapping tariffs on trading partners, likelihood isn't that these partners are going to sit back and take it.
00:03:31
Speaker
And China is a really great case in point. They're already gearing up to fire back with their own tariffs and Australia is not exactly thrilled either. ah global trade war is looking ever increasing likely and we know that in trade wars, no one wins.
00:03:45
Speaker
So it's thinking, it's talking about disrupted global supply chains and industries at risk and growing international tension. And then there's a final issue that I'm concerned about personally as well, which is the issue of innovation stagnation.
00:04:00
Speaker
When you focus on protectionism, when you put on barriers instead of building bridges, how do you expect to grow? The global market pushes companies to innovate, to find solutions and evolve. But tariffs, they slow the whole entire process down. The future of industries that rely on international collaboration,
00:04:17
Speaker
And supply chain is now in jeopardy. And the vision of a global economy connected through trade and technology and ideas, well, that kind of feels like more of an isolation and and um and not really a reality anymore.
00:04:30
Speaker
So while the immediate intention behind these tariffs is to protect domestic interest interests, the broader long-term consequences may include strained international relationships,
00:04:41
Speaker
economic volatility, and potential harm to both consumers and industries. So that's my assessment on the Trump tariffs. I'm not exactly too excited um by all of the things that I'm seeing.
00:04:55
Speaker
I see the intent, but the execution, I'm afraid, needs some work. What do you think, Claire? Oh my goodness. I am so glad you brought this up, Anna. These tariffs have been keeping me up at night worrying all week.
00:05:08
Speaker
And with the global news cycle awash with just so much commentary from all different sides and angles, I've just been struggling to make sense of it all. Like, what does it mean for me, for my future? How about the future of the generations to come?
00:05:22
Speaker
What kind of economy will they be inheriting four years in four years' time or who knows how long Trump is US president for? The way that you just broke that down for me made so much sense.
00:05:33
Speaker
I can really see clearly now how this is just another example of short-term thinking masquerading as a band-aid fix for the domestic industries in America who are suffering. And as you say, it's not just the countries with tariffs that are suffering, like Australia, but the American people too who will also pay the price, which is something I find quite ironic.
00:05:52
Speaker
funnily enough. um So yeah, thank you so much for creating the space. I really hope that for anyone listening to this who was feeling like me, just a bit stressed out and a bit overwhelmed by all of this, that it's now a bit clearer.
Angelica's Advocacy Journey
00:06:06
Speaker
So now it's time we introduce our incredible guest for this week. Today, we're speaking with someone who is redefining youth advocacy and social impact. Angelica Ojanaka-Silakas is an a award-winning social researcher, youth affairs specialist and global leader in social development.
00:06:24
Speaker
From serving as the 2022 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations to leading national frameworks on youth wellbeing, her work is transforming policies that affect young people today and for generations to come.
00:06:38
Speaker
In this episode, we'll explore her journey, the challenges she tackled and what's truly in it for you as a young person when it comes to making change. Angelica, Welcome to the podcast.
00:06:48
Speaker
Thank you so much for being here today. How are you feeling? Thank you for having me. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling bright and I'm feeling excited to chat. We love this. Okay, so to get into it, I would love to get a little bit more context around your origin and understanding what first sparked your passion for youth advocacy and social justice.
00:07:10
Speaker
Hmm. Um, I often hear the phrase sometimes of like this idea of becoming an advocate and i think part of that is true for me, but I also think part of it is was never a becoming, it was a forced experience.
00:07:28
Speaker
And I say that because, I mean, there's a lot of young people who um obviously come into this world and not expecting the things that they're going to encounter um and also not expecting the way the world will respond to them as a person.
00:07:42
Speaker
um And so growing up, I say like my kind of, if we say advocacy, so to speak, um began from young. um i was born into a situation of domestic and family violence from zero.
00:08:00
Speaker
And that was um something I think that over time through childhood um I saw as just something that I, you know, wasn't right.
00:08:12
Speaker
I always would see myself as thinking that I was, you know, something was wrong with me existing in this dynamic. um But then also I would also see how the world responded and like supported young people who had this lived experience or children had this experience, but also, um you know, women, et cetera, who have this experience. And like, you'd see and ask yourself these questions, like at five, I'd be like, why is it that we're experiencing this? Or like, you know, in my naivety.
00:08:38
Speaker
um and so when I say like, you know, the question around what first sparked a passion, um It came out of a frustration, I think, from young as a kid um and seeing things that I was seeing.
00:08:52
Speaker
At the age of nine, I also became a young carer immediately for my little brother, um who was born with a disability. um I have many siblings by the way, oldest of mine.
00:09:02
Speaker
Um, so love that, love the lot. They're all cool. Um, and it's the best thing being an older sister. Um, but one of my brothers was born with a disability, um, intellectual disability and a few other, um, disabilities as well.
00:09:17
Speaker
Um, and immediately. I kind of took on a role within a household that was predominantly um supported by my mom, um took on the role in supporting like the siblings and doing the caring responsibilities that actually not, I realized later on that not a lot of other young people had to do. um So like, you know, skipping out on like,
00:09:40
Speaker
activities after school was a normal thing because I'm like, I've got to go and do stuff or, know, doing the usual things for taking care of like a like a young baby or someone who's who has regular hospital visits every single week was a normal normal for me.
00:09:57
Speaker
But What wasn't normal for me was seeing what people's response to my brother's very existence in this world was and seeing that from nine years old, seeing and hearing the things that people would say about him, say about disability, say about people who care for disability, ah complete dehumanization.
00:10:15
Speaker
and I didn't have the word dehumanization at the time, but I was using words and saying things to my mom, like, why do people not see him as a human being? Why does he have to struggle? Why doesn't he get the care? Why doesn't he get, you know, the access to the activities or to the health stuff? Why is the hospital so difficult to navigate for him?
00:10:36
Speaker
And so, All of these questions at a young age and seeing all these things play out in life, I think just naturally made me land into the thing that I'm passionate about now, is which is answering those questions.
00:10:51
Speaker
That's really what sparked the passion for social justice and youth advocacy. I felt and just saw wrongs a lot, but I also saw the opportunities for what could be right.
00:11:02
Speaker
And I was just... too curious and too frustrated that I guess I just decided to keep on doing that and to keep on asking questions that I didn't think were hard and should be answered um so that people can just live the life they want to live.
00:11:21
Speaker
So that's really, I guess, where what first sparked a passion for youth advocacy I think if you talk about it more formally, definitely coming into university and seeing experiences. I mean, even my journey into university was like not really ah typical one. Like I definitely got, well, in New South Wales, we have the ATAR.
00:11:47
Speaker
My ATAR was horrid. So like, I'm not even going to go there with a number, but it was for the many reasons that I didn't have time to care about school. I had had a lot of things going on in the family that I had to care for.
00:11:58
Speaker
And so education was the last thing for me. University was not even an option in my head, but it was through supports and I guess belief of others, but also like actual systemic actions that people took that gave me the opportunity to go.
00:12:13
Speaker
And so That for me was then what sparked this kind of ongoing formal passion to actually go, I want to actually address the social inequalities that exist for people. How do we actually develop the communities and the spaces that people need to thrive in?
00:12:28
Speaker
And so everything sits within that. That's why I... rather than maybe advocate, I probably agitate a lot, if if anything, as a phrase, really, and using research and evidence based data, but also the lived experiences and stories of people and bringing that together as a way to actually say, well, we have to stop inequality, we actually have to stop inequity. So that's Yeah, that is the, I guess what sparked everything. Quite the story. I mean, i just find it really cool to contemplate on this at like the fact that you were born into these circumstances and it could have gone in two different directions. It could have gone into a very different one where you just felt agitated and didn't do anything with it. And so
00:13:16
Speaker
to see the fact that you're translating your frustrations into actions and continuing to see a brighter future that's yet to exist is, I think, really remarkable. And I think that's often my biggest takeaway from really incredible stories is that you you have every justification to just be angry and that's it, but you're doing something. And that's, I guess, just to kind of build on that,
00:13:39
Speaker
When you said you're carer, how did that shape your views on participation, inequality and access? And like, what are the key things that you still use with that every single day in your work today?
00:13:53
Speaker
um It's shaped, ah I mean, it's shaped a lot of my views on participation in particular because but also inequality and access. And ah kind of hinted it hinted at it a little bit, but being a young carer, you know, well, for myself, don't have the same lived experiences as my brother, but observing and listening and sharing and trying to create a space for him that he gets to do the things that he loves.
00:14:17
Speaker
You start to see over time how disability is not just about what a person has, actually what disables people is the way we build our society.
00:14:29
Speaker
That's the, you know, that's what they call like the social model of disability. It's what a lot of, um, I guess, leading disability kind of advocates, et cetera, like talk a lot about, and that we need to see the way in which we create societies and communities and spaces that actually,
00:14:46
Speaker
allows people to participate in the ways that they want to and the ways that they can. um And I think over time I started to observe, yeah, just like this but how things in our social worlds and in our and in our environments and right outside ah outside our door impacted the way that my brother could participate.
00:15:06
Speaker
Whether it was the language that we were using about people or understandings of intellectual disability or even just the basics of how a path is built ah to,
00:15:17
Speaker
you know, school systems and um having to navigate challenging experiences with um disability discrimination in in ah so in schools to trying to find a place where that suits him.
00:15:29
Speaker
You know, seeing that really like upfront and and being very close to that directly with my mom and and often being the person who would like take help take him to appointments and and that sort of thing.
00:15:42
Speaker
you'd Yeah, you start to see how there's so much inequality that exists. within the way that we structure things. I use a recent example. ah my brother's been transitioning from children's to adults as he nears that age and for his hospital care, um but also for all these other things. And when we were looking at these processes already, we'd have been having conversations with people on the phone about what he needs and the supports that yeah are available to him. to him And the,
00:16:16
Speaker
Just the inequality that exists in how you and in how people perceive disability and how we talk about it, even just as simple to get him like a bank card set up. It was like, yeah, it's it's just a it's a dehumanizing experience um for many who have a disability, but also being a carer, realizing that we um don't actually realize, I mean, caring is one of the most like the most amazing things that I've got that I get to be and still am.
00:16:46
Speaker
um It's, you know, but also like there's, ah there's somewhat of a social toll and a social, you know, inequality that emerges. When I think about the things that I find as like stuff that I'm doing now as an adult, I didn't do them back then because you just didn't have access to them as a young carer or like people didn't design things based, based off like a kid who has to, has other, experience you know, responsibilities. And, and so,
00:17:14
Speaker
It's really shaped how I see, yeah, like I said, how things are structured. But also that it's also shaped my view on that inequality requires like multiple responses and you can't just deal with one thing by itself.
00:17:29
Speaker
um I think often, i mean, like, let's say for my brother, you know, you responded to his health. You still have to respond to how he gets, you know, into work if he wants to work or anything.
00:17:39
Speaker
education, etc. Like all these things are tied together and even more so for people who are marginalized for for whatever multiple reasons. And so I think that that's what I find really useful now that my framing to how I look at things like well-being and how communities thrive is not through this like siloed approach, like where things are singular, but looking at all parts of ourselves and all parts of how people exist in the world, but also like, yeah, general social experiences and et cetera. So, so yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
I'd love to just jump in here. And firstly, I want to say, Or just acknowledge at the incredible vulnerability and you courage that it takes to share the way that you do, Angelica, and to come onto to a space like this.
00:18:30
Speaker
And whilst I know you're no stranger to them now, but I'm I can only imagine when you were starting out the daunt and the overwhelm at speaking up and actually channeling the lived experiences, the very tough ones that you have lived through, both through childhood and adolescence.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, I guess how, yeah, it it takes real courage to do that. And whilst I don't, necessarily share many of the lived experiences that you've gone through. One thing that really resonated with me sitting here listening to you you share your story just now was the manner in which you have so incredibly channeled the struggles that you have faced into opportunities to be an advocate and to be a voice for those who are historically marginalized and left most behind by the structural barriers that unfortunately permeate our society. And so what I do, might what my real hope is, is that for anyone in our audience today who's listening and who potentially does share some of the same lived experiences as you, that, yeah, what you can take away from this is just how formative these experiences are and that, yeah,
00:19:42
Speaker
You're not alone, um ah but as well, they can be incredible opportunities for but creating a real structural change um as you have been throughout your journey and life. So I just wanted to to acknowledge and to say thank you for that. But I'd love to now take us in a bit of a different direction um and to talk more about some of the incredible projects and initiatives you've been recently involved with, the Future Healthy Countdown,
00:20:09
Speaker
2030 being one of them.
Youth Wellbeing and Participation
00:20:10
Speaker
A couple of questions I have. First of all, what is it and why is it so important for young people? And then secondly, related to that, what are some of the most alarming trends you're seeing in youth health and wellbeing at the moment?
00:20:23
Speaker
I love how the question is, what is it? feel like we also are constantly... Let's break it down Yeah, we're constantly like redefining what what this is for us. And i think that that's like, that's the beautiful thing, right, is the way that like the landscape on children and young people's or children, adolescent and young people's wellbeing is being framed is constantly moving and shifting.
00:20:45
Speaker
The Future Healthy Countdown was birthed from three organisations, VicHealth, Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, ERASI.
00:20:58
Speaker
All of these organisations came together um and built like this, essentially this partnership with one of Australia's most, were really foremost academic organizations publications that exist, which is the Medical Journal of Australia, where if you're going to go for like evidence-based, like around health and, and, and wellbeing, um there's many places, but one of them, the MJA is the place to go.
00:21:21
Speaker
But essentially they came together to go, right. We actually have to address this, like one, this evidence-based gap, because we keep hearing this like constant same story that we're not,
00:21:32
Speaker
Meeting the needs of children and young people and where they are directly experiencing what we'd call like, I mean, this phrase polycrisis keeps coming up and oh in different spaces. And what that means is just multiple multiple different crises at one time.
00:21:50
Speaker
um So, you know, a growing, growing climate crisis that is clearly evident, a growing wealth inequality crisis, growing, and you know, social dynamics across the world and the crises to do with that.
00:22:03
Speaker
Mental health is like one of the most obvious ones as well. um So, yeah. Future Healthy Countdown essentially came together amidst all these like pressing issues to really go, how can we respond to um to all of that with an evidence base, ah but also enable organisations and a coalition of people to come together to actually use that as a accountability and advocacy tool for, you know, the years to come and really future healthy countdown has like six, not six, sorry, seven main domains that we're like focused on healthy environments and sustainable futures, feeling valued, loved, and safe.
00:22:45
Speaker
positive sense of wellbeing and culture, participating, learning and employment pathways and material basics. So all of these domains come together as what we see as important for health and wellbeing.
00:23:00
Speaker
Really the goal of Future Healthy Countdown is to actually make the pathway to a healthy future happen. um So it's really a targeted national framework about around children and young people's world wellbeing. So measuring the progress on children young people's health and well-being, but also bringing together evidence across seven key health and well-being domains.
00:23:22
Speaker
um The other cool thing is that we're identifying policy priorities. So based off what the evidence is saying, this is what we know in terms of policy would actually shift health and well-being for children and young people.
00:23:35
Speaker
um And I think seeing this kind of coalition come together. We've already done a lot of work in the past two years on the countdown, but really looking to ramp that up even further to actually go, hey, this is the scorecard of children and young people's health and wellbeing now that you can't ignore across these seven things.
00:23:52
Speaker
How are you responding to it? Here are the policy actions that exist. One of them is supporting all the amazing work already on the future on future future generations, which I know both of you are in touch with closely.
00:24:04
Speaker
And there's a few other things that cut across all of those seven domains. But I think why we need... future healthy countdown is like I'm just kind of tired of the constant oh we don't have the data we don't know what it really things are telling us or is this really children's experience and it's it's a bit it's getting a bit tiring and ridiculous now and so that's really what where this came at came from is that we have this now place where we can't ignore the evidence and we can't ignore the policy priorities um So that's what that's what the Future Healthy Countdown is all about and and something that we hope, ah yeah, all organic. There's so many people working across all of those seven domains. We want this to be a tool and a framework that can support everyone's work in some way.
00:24:50
Speaker
That's incredible. I have two main things I took away from that were number one what I just think is absolutely fantastic is the way in which a group of experts, a group of young people um from various different backgrounds,
00:25:07
Speaker
Saw a common problem, had ah shared ambition to address it, and then came together to collaborate and came together to build this robust, ah productive coalition around how do we actually do something about this?
00:25:21
Speaker
um So that's number one, what I love just so much. It shows really when we're looking at how we can create transformation and change in society, it shows that we need ah collaboration rather than We need people working in concert ah rather than in isolation. um The second thing and that I love about what you just shared about this initiative here is what the output that you have been able to create, the solution is something that is highly practical and highly actionable. And it addresses a very clear and obvious gap as you identified the excuse that people often provide policymakers, decision makers, when they feel they can't address this is, oh, there's not enough evidence.
00:25:59
Speaker
oh, there's not enough data. And now what you seem to have done through this initiative is just make it so undeniable, so inignorable that, well, they can't use that. ah They can't fall back on that as an nick excuse anymore. And so forgive me, but I do have a ah quick follow-up question book for before we move on to our next one, which is that I'd just be super curious to hear what is the kind of impact you've had so far with all of the evidence-based frameworks that you've been able to create and the data you've been able to generate since the inception of this initiative.
00:26:30
Speaker
Have you been finding that there's been greater willingness to listen to the evidence that is out there ah and to act on it? Yeah, I think definitely, well, definitely there has been. um And it's especially into this year um in 2025, that's one of the main focuses is that we're recreating this whole new strategy to go all full throttle into into this because of not just the interest, but the realization that, oh, someone's tracking this and someone's doing this annually and they're not gonna let it go. They're just gonna keep doing it.
00:27:03
Speaker
And I think that that's been really interesting. And so in the first year, the The Countdown really focused on just like generally talking about its it's whole self. what um And so ah should clarify that each year in the Medical Journal of Australia, we publish this, like what we call a supplement. So a supplement sounds like medicine, but like essentially it's like a... it's like a I would describe it like a booklet of like journal articles, both perspective and research papers that um show the state of affairs in one of those domains. So each year we focus on a particular domain. This year, 2025, we're looking at learning and employment pathways.
00:27:40
Speaker
But ah essentially what um happens with that is that we try to also galvanise some support along with each of the, during each of the years on that particular area.
00:27:51
Speaker
One of the things we're introducing this year is this big scorecard on like where we're at across these domains, um like I mentioned. So in the first year, there was just a lot of this, what we realized is a lot of this um consensus across like multiple organizations going, yes, we all are saying the same thing, that we need clear, best available evidence and policy priorities that are actually created together.
00:28:20
Speaker
And so think that first year really highlighted that and also highlighted the state of affairs we're in. Last year, we focused on our first domain, which was on participating, which is really ah poignant, I guess, for myself. That's probably the one I'm really passionate about.
00:28:35
Speaker
But this idea of participation and looked at we looked at multiple different things in participation. There were some papers that looked at ah First Nations participation, a paper that looked at First Nations meaningful but um youth participation and engagement and I would recommend everyone looks at that, though the real hard-hitting points around actually what it means to engage with First Nations youth and communities.
00:28:58
Speaker
And what that genuinely looks like is just, it's been a framework that it has impacted even our internal internal work, but also... I know for other people as well. There was a paper that was actually youth led. Each year we publish a youth led paper, which is also kind of extraordinary, just never happens in link journals. Although it doesn't happen enough, never, I should say.
00:29:20
Speaker
But yeah, it was a youth led paper last year about lowering the voting age and what that would look like in Australia and why that is the case. And so again, this idea of like political participation and that was the focus for that paper and then across other things as well looking at poverty and and and other domains too.
00:29:37
Speaker
But the impact that it has is one it's brought together a powerful coalition and strengthened the cross-collaborative work that often can feel like it's happening in silos which I think is really great.
00:29:48
Speaker
The other impact is that we're able to reach an audience that is usually not really engaged in this policy priority kind of lens, which is the people who read the Medical Journal of Australia, who are our foremost health practitioners or wellbeing practitioners and engage that audience into thinking very differently. And the response has been really powerful there, but we've also spent a lot of time engaging with um ah politicians and the people who are the ones who shift and change policy and law.
00:30:20
Speaker
And there has been a receptiveness, I would say, definitely to the first one and even more so to the second one. But I think that what's what's been really observed is that some of this is challenging for some of our leaders to conceptualize and and who also have their own competing priorities as well.
00:30:41
Speaker
And that's the thing that I think is also for us that we're we're thinking about too is How do we really put these policy priorities and keep pushing those policy priorities to the people who need to hear them the most?
00:30:52
Speaker
And I got to be part of some of those conversations with politicians last year that were really interesting to see how they were responding to hearing about the, void like, you know, lowering the voting age and actually listening to what the evidence of young people in a medical journal like that is saying.
00:31:09
Speaker
So, yeah, I think it is increasing. And I think what's hopefully going to come out from this year is that there is now something that is glaringly obvious around children young people's wellbeing, similar to how we have a report card on gender in Australia. Like this this is what we're hoping this would kind of also get that really reality check.
00:31:31
Speaker
um So yeah. yeah I love that reality check. It's exactly what our political leaders now need now going into this election. That's super beautiful. I love the trajectory that you've just painted there. I think that shows very clearly, obviously, there has been impact. And what I take away from that, what I find inspiring is that or interesting rather, is the the concept of challenging that you touched upon. There obviously, you know, being being an academic, being someone, correct me if I'm wrong, I think who is just jumping into the incredible journey of doing a PhD.
00:32:05
Speaker
You move within certain circles where you use a particular jargon or speak that may not necessarily be understood understood. resonate with those, for example, who are in the policy circles or the political sphere. And so what you have been able to create the specific output, the framework is something that then in order for it to be translated or plugged into the actual operation of the policy sphere and that, I guess, kind of infrastructure, you have to kind of repackage it or encourage people
00:32:36
Speaker
or use a ah different jargon to connect those dots and to bring those people together from different sectors. And I think that's just a really beautiful example of cross-sectoral collaboration. and What I want to lean more into now is the passion that you shared just before about participation. I think that aligns really, really well with our next question, which is ah something you said to us a few weeks ago.
00:32:57
Speaker
You said that young people don't need to wait for permission to shape policy. And so this is a question I've been dying to ask you for such a long time. But to you, what does meaningful youth participation actually look like?
00:33:10
Speaker
ah If this was like, if you if I had a whole day. it's Not an easy question. No, I know. It's definitely not an easy question to to answer in a short time. But there's a few things. And I think that the way in which meaningful participation looks like to an individual is different.
00:33:28
Speaker
And so obviously... prefacing prefacing that. I think that's also important to understand. I feel like we homogenize meaningful participation and that's out that's part of the error as to why it's not been meaningful in many ways.
00:33:42
Speaker
But this, essentially what I shared to you before around like not waiting to shape policy. I think like it's already clear to us in this conversation that really our leaders, et cetera, are the ones who are the doers of the law kind of creating and et cetera and like actually shifting different policies and whatnot.
00:34:04
Speaker
But we don't have to wait for them to do something. I think it's it's it's interesting to me that there's like a ah waiting game. Of course, we're wanting them to respond to our needs too. But there's the idea of like pressure and the idea of applying kind of like...
00:34:20
Speaker
that pressure from our community spaces is really important. It's not possible to shape policy without that. Actually, policy and even being able to exist as politicians relies on the fact that we are saying something about our communities to them.
00:34:34
Speaker
um And I think often in politics that's that all like this, the political sphere can be overwhelming and confusing to some and also just like frustrating in general, especially when it's impacted your daily life and has impacted your communities for generations. Like I look to our First Nations people, for example, in this, like, you know, this idea of shaping policy when there's been routine failures for like years that have resulted in health inequities that are honestly quite obscene and other inequities too.
00:35:06
Speaker
But for me, meaningful participation, think there's, there's just so many things I want to share, but we often hear the word tokenistic.
00:35:18
Speaker
I think both tokenistic and humanizing need to go together. When something's not tokenistic for young people, it's actually seeing them in their full selves. It's actually giving them spaces in terms of where they're at to engage, whether that's swearing at you because the policy is crap or whether that's, you know, hugging you because you did an amazing thing for them, like existing and and engaging with them where they're at with how they're feeling about you and about what you're proposing to them and what you're doing.
00:35:51
Speaker
I think meaningful use youth participation is recognizing that we live in a world that is intergenerational. we're We're constantly engaging with across generations, whether it's in our family life or whether it's in um community or you know, homes, et cetera.
00:36:08
Speaker
And meaningful participation is being able to engage as a young person in their rights as a young person who's living in this same world as we are, as adults are, and not just being seen as becoming adults and not infantilizing experiences, but actually a again, seeing young people in their fullness and hearing them in their fullness, but then also actualizing what they say.
00:36:34
Speaker
i think that meaningful participation often stops at like, tell me what it is that you want or give me your ideas. And then we like leave it there and it just becomes this thing that just simmers and simmers and then essentially just stops simmering and just is just plain and nothing happening.
00:36:52
Speaker
And that can be frustrating. That's where the tokenistic comes in. That's where the like the lessening of the you know the humanizing comes in. Cause it's like, oh, actually they just took from me as opposed to responded to me, as opposed to actualized what I said.
00:37:08
Speaker
That's what the mean where's where the meaningful comes from. something has to There has to be a meaning to the participating. There has to be, a mean like quite literally, there has to be a meaning to what we're doing. And so I think we often forget that.
00:37:21
Speaker
And that's something that every generation wants. Meaningful participation is a community, is is has been something that's existed in communities for years, for generations, being able to come together collectively and respond, whether it's respond to negative things or to celebrate, but do it where everyone is together and everyone is listened to.
00:37:42
Speaker
This is not a new, like it's a new concept in terms of the phrase, but it's not a new concept in terms past. It's around for generations. Exactly. And so I think that, you know, we need to think about, when I think about meaningful participation, like I said, it's not the tokenistic, it's the actually humanizing, it's putting the meaning back into the phrase, it's quite literally itself. And it's about thinking about the full participation of someone, whether they're with you and when they're not with you, like what's happening.
00:38:11
Speaker
what's happening to what they've shared or what's happening to what they've provided. And I guess that's kind of why there's a little bit of that frustration with policy is that you say a lot and it feels like there's not enough movement.
00:38:23
Speaker
And that's because maybe there isn't enough movement, but also we're not coming back to community in a meaning, like with meaning, with purpose, with actual going back to what they said and shared with us. So yeah, I think, um,
00:38:39
Speaker
If I was to live in a world that meaningful participation was happening, there would be care, there would be humanity, there would be people getting to to dip in and out in the way that they want to.
00:38:53
Speaker
And you'd have policy that reflects them and their daily experiences, not that just snapshot experiences in one moment, but their day to day experiences. That's what's meaningful. So yeah, I said a lot. yeah There's a billion others, but yeah. My goodness.
00:39:06
Speaker
I would add maybe compassion to that list. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Empathy. Yeah. So much ah trust as well. You've pulled so, yeah, pulled so much together that I'm very impressed given you could talk about that for, as you're so right, um an entire day, if you had the time for it.
00:39:22
Speaker
Two things, I guess I take away from that is or three things, maybe to me, what I understand based on what I've heard is meaningful youth participation or just meaningful participation in general is about three things. It's about expectations. So yeah, as you said, meeting young people where they're at and treating them not just as tokens for inclusion, but rather the core and critical agents of change that they are and the drivers of more sustainable, innovative, long-term, visionary societies, people with fresh thinking and new ideas and recognizing and actually valuing that.
00:39:59
Speaker
ah Secondly, youth participant meaningful participation is about power fundamentally. And that applies again, as you identified, not just to young people, but to youth. any kind of group or community we're seeing that is denied often a voice historically in important decision making processes. It's about if you're really meaningful um about including and affording them a voice, ah you have to be willing to relinquish your grip on the power that you hold to be able to share that.
00:40:27
Speaker
some of that with the group that is asking for more. And then thirdly, yeah, I guess thinking um about everything you shared, now my list could go way beyond just three things. I loved to the intergenerational perspective that you brought to that and putting the meaning back in meaningful participation means bringing all of the generations around the table and that's got to include young people most obviously.
00:40:47
Speaker
And to like build on that, I think it's, it's for me, I reflect on, you know, its circumstances throughout my history where you would share your thoughts and opinions and perspectives, and then there's nothing that's done with it. And then, you know, the, the building frustration that that creates. And so it is about redesigning and re-imagining so that everyone has a voice and there isn't the tokenism that we've just shared about, but rather,
00:41:11
Speaker
like that is heard with a respect enough for the action to follow. But like to kind of take it into, I guess, from the perspective of those who are wanting to meaningfully participate, they do have these frustrations. They do want to agitate. They do want to speak up. They want to have and input.
00:41:30
Speaker
but they just don't know where to begin because perhaps they've also experienced in their in their past speaking up and it not being translated into anything. nothing It's fallen on deaf ears and that can feel really, it can feel demotivating to want to continue going down that path. So what would what advice would you give to those people, young people who who want to share and who want to meaningfully participate but don't know where to begin?
00:41:55
Speaker
I think one of the things that has been, I guess, an error in the way in which we've conceptualized meaningful participation is this idea that it has to be grand, this idea that it has to be this like big and obvious thing.
00:42:09
Speaker
And I think that for me, I give the example of... When I was in high school, I just, I don't know what it, clearly I just love like challenging, challenging things and like the way that they're structured.
00:42:23
Speaker
And I think it says a lot about my personality, but essentially in my high school, i became, I, I, I found school tough sometimes and I would spend a lot of time in the library where I could um just to kind of get away.
00:42:41
Speaker
School was a safe haven also from like a lot of the personal circumstances i was experiencing and so was sport. And I would talk to the librarian just probably, she was probably so annoyed with me being like, can this kid like go away?
00:42:55
Speaker
But I would just talk to her going, I'm kind of just tired of feeling like, ah like surely I'm not the only one in the school that feels like they don't get to say what they want to say or doesn't get to like,
00:43:09
Speaker
gets their interests kind of like looked at or like, or yeah, like I feel like the most interesting parts of me are are forgotten. And then we started talking more about in my, so in my high school, there was like a, we had a, like a learning support unit and we also had like the general kind of school spaces.
00:43:29
Speaker
And I just couldn't understand at the time why there was such a like separation between the two. And I used to talk to her about the example example of that being like, no one talks about their voices and what they're like, but like it just feels like the learning support unit's just in the corner.
00:43:46
Speaker
Like what's going on? Like and I just i just but would always kind of point to that example. And I just and i don't know, over time in school, it just made me go, I kind of just feel like, There's a few people in the school who feel like they don't have a voice.
00:44:01
Speaker
And so how about we kind of just like c create like a little time where it's not just me at lunch, but it's everyone who doesn't feel like they have a voice to come together and just make as much noise about our voice with our voices. And that could be through something creative. And so...
00:44:18
Speaker
The librarian facilitated that for me in year 11, and then it carried on into year 12, where we set up this like kind of, I just set up this group of like students who just wanted to in their either lunchtime or during their break,
00:44:30
Speaker
um And also during the breaks that the learning support unit had to just come and read random stuff that we saw that was interesting to us. Like maybe it was like something about a game, maybe it was something about news or whether maybe it was something else, like just anything.
00:44:45
Speaker
And you just share it and we just share like, and just talk. And like people didn't know each other. we just were randoms in the school in the school, but we all clearly felt like we were ignored and felt like isolated.
00:44:57
Speaker
And felt like we weren't given the opportunities to to share. And I didn't know how, i didn't know at the time how much that would mean to me. But I hold that as an example of sometimes meaningful participation feels like it has to be this big thing.
00:45:14
Speaker
It can just be simply you finding a way for people in your school to just chat. And like, actually for me, that moment went, made me feel so much more confident about myself that I went and said, you know what?
00:45:29
Speaker
I said to my the librarian again, who was acting as a therapist, but like telling her, hey, look, I think through this, I've actually gotten a lot of confidence in myself.
00:45:39
Speaker
Maybe I want to be a school captain. I like, I just, I never thought that as a thing. for myself, i'm like, I also don't have the time, like I have to leave school straight away half the time to get back home and or go to the daycare where i have to pick up my brother and like walk back home with them and everything like that.
00:45:57
Speaker
But I said, you know what, I think through just sitting with everyone and seeing how we'd laugh and seeing how we'd talk and And just feeling that confidence in my literal in my literal voice, but also in like the voice within me to share more and want to actually have a say on things that someone like myself should get to keep doing that. I just wanted to keep finding ways to do that.
00:46:18
Speaker
And so i ah use that as an example of like, For me, that was that moment with the students in my, in year 11 was a way for me to, I guess at the time, realize my own voice, but also then move into a space where I kept continuing to see that and hold onto that same feeling that I had when we set up that group.
00:46:39
Speaker
And realize actually that these spaces are made better with my voice there. and And so for me, that's a way of dismantling, I guess, the status quo is like on paper, you wouldn't see this like young carer who's like hardly ever here and like struggling be the person who's like supporting the school at that level in year 12.
00:46:58
Speaker
And I think that that's like a metaphor going just in general, broadly speaking, is that, yeah, ah policy and politics relies on us.
00:47:09
Speaker
And actually, I think we undervalue our voices so much because I know I did. I always thought like, yeah, cool. My family doesn't have enough money. i don't have, I don't have to, I can't be saying stuff like no one's going to listen to me. I'm not, you know, rich enough or I'm not like valued enough or I'm not like the right kind of skin tone. Like all of these things I would think about.
00:47:30
Speaker
What's not right about me? Quite literally, what criteria do you need to fill to be able to have a voice rather than, oh I have a voice. Let me just use it. That's it. Exactly. And I'm like creating this this artificial list for myself, not realizing that that whole space cannot exist without me in their list, in their criteria. I have to be inside their mindsets and they are directly creating the world that I will get to live.
00:47:54
Speaker
So by automatic, just automatically my voice is important. And so I would say, yeah, don't think of things that are too grand. Think of things that actually spur your, like what you're feeling in your day to day, what you're seeing.
00:48:10
Speaker
um And it can be so simple. It really can be so simple. All of these things may not immediately lead to policy change or policy shifting or whatever, but they shift something.
00:48:23
Speaker
And I think if I didn't do that action, and yeah i don't know where i where I would be in terms of my own voice and allowing myself to shift in that way. So, yeah. um You almost stole the the words right out of my mouth there, Angelica. I was just going to say what you highlighted a little bit before um when you were sharing and I was listening to you was that Well, just one of the biggest, most common misconceptions about making change in society, which is that, and I feel like it's almost an overused phrase now, but change doesn't have to be grandiose or you know, on large national, international scales for you to have impact. It can be something as simple as ah conversation like with your librarian when you're in high school sitting one day feeling like,
00:49:16
Speaker
And why is the world the way that it is? And yeah, the anecdote that you've just shared shows how things like that can be the beginning of a journey and can be the beginning of something that whilst you don't know why where it might lead to, if you learn to trust and just trust.
00:49:34
Speaker
yeah, follow what feels right, I think, um real meaningful change, um like the ones that you've been able to create, are it's really possible. I might just move us to our very last question and before we do our closing call to action.
00:49:46
Speaker
What kind of world do you hope young people will inherit
Future Vision and Upcoming Projects
00:49:50
Speaker
10 years from now? And is there one policy change that could bring this to life? You know what's so funny, and I don't mean to self-promote, but this question is so interesting because I'm like,
00:50:01
Speaker
Um, just like you amazing podcasters, I'm also in the podcasting realm. And, um, one of the things that I've has always been on my mind is to kind of tell a more narrative story around what does my inheritance look like in terms of not just money, what, like, what, what is my inheritance? And so I'm kind of exploring this in a really like storytelling way around, um,
00:50:27
Speaker
Yeah, the world that the world that we will we will collectively inherit and what I'll i inherit. And i i don't know the answer fully to this question because I'm exploring for it exploring it myself.
00:50:39
Speaker
But I'd like to, I guess, generally speaking, in 10 years' time, i I'd love us to live in a world where you're three things.
00:50:53
Speaker
we're not still behaving like we're in our infancy in terms of language on things to do with climate. Like the world I want to inherit is in 10 years as a world that is way more advanced in the way we talk about the climate.
00:51:07
Speaker
Like I, I think that we are struggling to fully understand the seriousness of what we're living in at the moment in terms of different communities. And I speak about things to do with climate from the from a very health lens.
00:51:21
Speaker
Like i've always kind of come into that into that space going – I come from a community and ah I'm Nigerian. I come from a culture where our lands and our communities have been destroyed and ah we're seeing the results of that for years inch and that's been exacerbated even further by the way that we don't have the infrastructure or the environments that we had to withstand this change in climate.
00:51:46
Speaker
Like we're seeing that and that's destroying the way that we farm, it's destroying the way that we have access to our cultural practices. And so I come from this in this lens. um And so for me, and that and that impacts our health, that impacts the way that we get our food, it impacts the way that our communities like engage together, so our social health. And so i want to live in a world where in 10 years where we're not talking about climate from the very beginning as if it just started. Like that's just what I want to inherit in general.
00:52:16
Speaker
um i guess the second thing in terms of the kind of world hope young people to inherit in 10 years is one where dehumanization is factored into all of our policy.
00:52:32
Speaker
Like everything that we do, we look at um whether or not people are able to be seen in their full humanity or not. And I would love to live in a world in 10 years where um We see children who are also seen just as equal humans as every everyone else, where they where there is their human rights and children and young people's rights are respected.
00:52:58
Speaker
um and they're just not seen as little adults. They're seen as actual human beings. um And then the third, in terms of the world I'd love to inherit, is one where inequality is actually addressed.
00:53:15
Speaker
I mean, that sounds quite vague, but um what I mean by that is a world where, yeah, there's less compounding social inequality amongst people. and and that we get to participate like in in ah in communities that are designed with us in mind. I'd love to see, like wherever I'm living in 10 years, it to actually feel like I contributed to the way that it looks, the way that it feels, the way that it um yeah the way that people are moving about in that way, and that those and that's how inequality actually gets addressed.
00:53:47
Speaker
And I guess what's one policy change that could bring about this This life, I'm going to be stubborn and I'm going to say two. I think that policy wise, I mean, there's two kind of like laws I'd love to see.
00:54:03
Speaker
I'd love to just see us actually have something about child rights in Australia actually written into law. We do not have, I don't understand it, but we have nothing in terms of our legal structure around, around child rights.
00:54:17
Speaker
And so actually we're functioning in this country without legislation that actually is directly about the world in which children have a right to live in. I think that that's... really kind of we have I love fish but we have law about we have laws about fish we do not we quite literally don't have the same thing about children's rights I'm I don't know I think as much as we talk are we're always talking about what about the kids what about the kids what about something for them quite literally in our legislation that'd be great and I guess another policy change is I think that
00:54:53
Speaker
A lot of First Nations or just global Indigenous ways of being and existing actually benefit everyone. um When you look and you read it and you ah you read what First Nations people say around like community, around care, around health,
00:55:12
Speaker
It's all the same things that we all want. So I'd love to see a policy that reflects indigenous ways of knowing and being. And I think that that would have a flow and effect on all the inequalities that everyone experiences. so I don't know about you, Anna, I've almost forgot that I'm a co-host sitting here listening to this. I could just be someone in the audience.
00:55:33
Speaker
I do hope I get to live in a world like that one day though. Wow, gosh. It's a beautiful world and it's and such an important conversation around this and this reimagining, but I just want to take it back to your previous answer of like,
00:55:44
Speaker
It was so deeply inspiring hearing just the simplicity of where policy and meaningful participation can begin. And if you believe that you need all of these prerequisites in order to contribute, it's actually the flip.
00:55:59
Speaker
Because you have the lack of confidence, the the social diversity, the All of it that made you feel is a barrier to your participation, that's the very reason that you should be the one participating. Yeah, like the criteria is not us. The criteria should be, there should be criteria for listening, to be honest, if you're not capable of being able to listen and engage and hear and actualize that. That's that where there should be a checklist, checklist not on ourselves. Yeah.
00:56:31
Speaker
And I think you've just made policy in my brain seem so much accessible. And and so I just, i really love the fact that you rallied the others who felt not included, who didn't feel like they belonged, and you created ah community for them.
00:56:48
Speaker
And from that, you your confidence grew. And it's almost like you graduated to the next thing that you can contribute and then the next. And it kind of just grew from those conversations in the library.
00:56:59
Speaker
And I think we can all see ourselves in that of like, where can we right in this moment today in my work environment where I may not feel included in my social circles, or if I don't feel like I belong in parts of my community, like what can I do to actively and reimagine, recreate that?
00:57:16
Speaker
And it's so simple and it doesn't have to be you know, solving the world's problems, it can start so small and it can grow from there. So just thank you for role modeling and sharing all of that. I'm i'm just so deeply moved.
00:57:29
Speaker
I would love to understand like what's next for Angelica. What are you up to? Yeah, I feel like I've attempted that whole like try to like simplify. It doesn't work for me.
00:57:41
Speaker
It doesn't work for me. Clearly, i as a complex being, I love complexity and I love doing a lot. And I think it's it's what works for me. Um, So what's next?
00:57:53
Speaker
Yeah, embarking on like ah the treacherous journey of a PhD. I say treacherous because I feel like that's what everyone's told me it will be. I'm hoping that my research, existing research experience in community will make it really straightforward.
00:58:08
Speaker
But that's the next journey. um And looking at it's it's all going to be around social inequality and health as well for um children and young people. So very excited to to do that and contribute something to I guess, literature in that way.
00:58:23
Speaker
And then also like, yeah, I guess I kind of split myself into three things, research, advocacy, and like just creativity. I'm going to keep doing a lot of ah podcast work. And so looking at stuff to do with doing a podcast at the moment on circular economy, which is really cool. And also, yeah, they and also another one on, um,
00:58:43
Speaker
what is my inheritance? And like actually asking this question. and And then ah the other advocacy work I do a lot within the African Australian community. So I'm really supporting in that front. And so I'm building a bit of infrastructure around women's equality to do with African women through African Women Australia. And so I've built with a team of people within our national community group a social and employment development program and a mentoring program that's specifically afrocentric that looks at our community's ways of being and doing and existing and and that's been a beautiful experience to see ah guess yeah young african women feel like they're being supported with a lens that understands like you know the racial harms that things that ah that they experience and but then also it looks at their strengths and looks at their agency as well so
00:59:34
Speaker
So that's some amazing work happening at the moment. And I guess finally, yeah, looking at suicide prevention and mental health literacy for African-Australian youth as well is a project I'm working on. So yeah, that's my 20 different lives I'm living at one moment. 20 different lives, but also i love, again, the vulnerability and the courage to share that because I feel like even a few years ago, and there still is today, just stigma around not having a clear, like one clear direction and career path and you're doing, you're breaking that down exactly and just showing
01:00:10
Speaker
young people who I hope who are listening to this, that you don't just have to do one thing and we're not just sort of singular beings. We have multiple passions and interests and hobbies. And i think if we think bigger picture and have the courage to to have the vision to go, oh, maybe I can do this and I can dip my toe in those waters as well, we can find a real sense of purpose and fulfillment that yeah enables us to to realize all of our passions and to be doing ultimately the thing that we love and not just be packaging ourselves up into one singular box that tries to tick all of the boxes in one go, as we've said. So I think that's just beautiful.
01:00:48
Speaker
And yeah, one last question for you Where can people who are inspired by all of this, I don't know who wouldn't be, um follow along and support some of the excellent work that you're involved with?
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, I just want to say one quick thing before answering that is if you're doing multiple things, It can feel like a lot if you're only looking at yourself in those multiple things.
01:01:09
Speaker
If you're doing stuff with community, trust me, you feel it won't feel like you're doing a lot, you're doing too much. And I think that's the core of, I think for me, there was a period of time where I was doing a lot of things just singularly and it made no sense.
01:01:23
Speaker
And when you think about connection and what you're doing this for and purpose and meaning, doing it with people and doing it with community community, based off what community is also saying actually helps a lot if you're someone like me who likes to do multiple stuff. So yeah, just wanted to kind of add that to that too. But you um in terms of in terms of where to find me, you can find my my name is too long.
01:01:49
Speaker
um So I mean, type Angelico Janaka. You'll find me generally on Instagram. That's where to find me. Also on LinkedIn as well.
01:02:00
Speaker
Although i find LinkedIn this like interesting, like, place. So like I'm very much ah on there as well. So you can connect there. um so yeah, those are the two kind of platforms that I specifically use if you just type my name and yeah.
01:02:16
Speaker
We'll make sure to share those social platforms. And I do resonate. LinkedIn is another planet altogether. oh yeah. Yeah, it it is. I feel like I have my moments with LinkedIn where I really love it and I'm like, I don't know what's going on. and I love hate relationships.
01:02:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That brings us to a close. um I have just loved every minute of speaking with you. If I could start my morning like this every day, I would. This has just been so energizing and invigorating. And I just want to yeah share once again, my thanks and and gratitude to you for being willing to come on the podcast.
01:02:47
Speaker
Oh, no. Thank you for having me.
01:02:59
Speaker
Oh my God, how inspiring. I'm feeling so energized to connect with somebody who is leading the charge for young people with so much courage and vulnerability. It really just goes to show that youth engagement and participation doesn't have to be some big scary thing. And we really can start in our own local community with something as small as a conversation.
Conclusion and Call to Action
01:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, just ah so inspiring. I cannot wait to have her back for another episode in the future and also to just see what she gets up to next.
01:03:25
Speaker
So that's the episode for today. If you enjoyed, once again, please leave a five-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen in from. You can also sign our petition, calling on the government to establish a Wellbeing in Future Generations Act.
01:03:38
Speaker
The link is in the description. And you can always give us a follow on our socials. Our handles are at For Our Future Campaign and at Foundations for Tomorrow. If you'd like to get involved with us, please send us an email at hello at Foundations for Tomorrow.
01:03:52
Speaker
I'm Clare Beaton-Wells. And I'm Anna Bazou. We'll be back with another episode shortly to talk more about policy and what's in it for you. Bye!