Brisbane Youth Service (BYS) - National Youth Week
30 March 2009
Member for Brisbane Central, Ms Grace Grace, MP,
Lady Mayoress of Brisbane, Mrs Lisa Newman,
Associate Director-General, Department of Communities, Ms Norelle Deeth,
Vice-President of the Management Committee of Brisbane Youth Service, Mr Frank Forrest,
Executive Manager - Programs, Brisbane Youth Service, Ms Angela Barnes,
Supporters of Brisbane Youth Service, including representatives of government departments and agencies and corporate partners;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
In the spirit of reconciliation and community harmony that we seek to foster throughout our State, I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are gathered, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples and their descendants. As I say this, I am conscious that young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent a significant percentage of the total young people accessing BYS services - so this acknowledgement is not a formulaic one, but a very real reminder that, as a community, we have to do more to achieve true reconciliation, justice and opportunity for all in our Queensland society.
On this rather damp and grey Brisbane morning, I am pleased to welcome you to Government House to this morning tea to mark National Youth Week, but more especially to recognise the important role that the Brisbane Youth Service plays in our community - and has done now for over thirty years, providing care and delivering a wide range of services to the homeless and the disadvantaged young people of Brisbane.
My welcome is extended to you in my role as Governor and as Patron of the Brisbane Youth Service. I am Patron of many organisations - over 160 in fact - and I can assure you that all of them engage my interest, attention and support in different ways, at different times. In the case of the Brisbane Youth Service, I was invited - and quickly accepted - to become Patron in December, 2008, and have been eager since then to meet and to talk to those involved with its management, to find out more about the many different services you provide and the way you actually go about your work; and also to find a suitable opportunity to meet your supporters - whose commitment and generosity is so essential to your continuing effective operation.
I am interested to meet, as I have the opportunity to do today, some of the young people attending this morning tea, who have benefited from BYS services; and to learn more, first-hand, from those on the front-line of service delivery. I am well aware of the many challenges you confront - the challenges of dealing with the complex, multi-faceted problems of young people who are marginalised and vulnerable; the challenges of building effective networks with other organisations, both NGO's and government departments and agencies working in the same or associated areas; the challenges of raising awareness in the wider community, and of securing and maintaining funding, particularly in times of economic pressure; the challenges of responding, in sympathetic, sensitive and appropriate ways that will work and deliver outcomes to needs and demands that seem to be constantly changing and growing.
My sense of the complexity of the area in which you work and of those changing and growing needs and demands has been sharpened in recent months, weeks and days by a number of events and activities with which I have been involved. To cite just some of them: presenting the life awards at an event organised by Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA) increased my awareness and knowledge of the problem of youth suicide in our community; attending many events earlier this month to celebrate International Women's Day, giving many speeches to different audiences, the issues of violence against women, of domestic violence, of sexual abuse, of dysfunctional families contributing to young people leaving home, came to the fore; last week, here in Brisbane, opening a conference hosted by PACT - the "Protect All Children Today" organisation, of which I am also Patron, I met an extraordinary array of people, of experts and specialists tackling many problems associated with children and young people at risk; and last week visiting ‘Sunrise Way' in Toowoomba - a centre which has been purpose-built to care for and rehabilitate young people whose lives have been affected by addiction and substance abuse ... I was reminded of this dimension and contributing factor to the problems of homelessness and youth alienation with which BYS deals daily. The facts and figures presented in relation to Toowoomba were graphic and disturbing. I assume that here in Brisbane, in our capital city, the problems and the risks are even more pronounced and the numbers more telling. And finally, to round off this list of recent experiences which have raised my awareness of the significance of the work undertaken by BYS, last night, I made time to go to see a film Wendy and Lucy ... which deals with the issues central to the preoccupations of the Brisbane Youth Service.
It is a film which tells, in a low- key way, but with clarity and sensitivity - and I believe greater impact from being under, rather than over-dramatised - about an unemployed young woman traveling across country to seek work, dealing with isolation, a lack of support from her family, struggling to maintain dignity in a deteriorating situation, with the frightening reality of homelessness becoming more apparent by the minute: ducking into garage toilets to wash, to clean her teeth and to change her clothes; seeking cardboard to sleep on in a park; feeling menaced by strangers, including other homeless people; collecting cans and bottles to glean a few cents. She resorts to shop-lifting and is caught, contributing further to her unraveling, spiraling-down situation.
It is a story whose elements will be very familiar to you, I am sure. Although this film is set in the United States, it could well have been here. The situation in relation to homelessness in Australia is deeply troubling. I know the statistics will be well known to this audience, but I think they bear repeating, because they underline the scale of the human tragedy of homelessness in our community, and the fact that homelessness impacts disproportionately on our young people. According to "Youth Homelessness Matters", on any given night in Australia, 105,000 people are homeless, with nearly half of these under the age of 25. Here in Brisbane, as the Lady Mayoress has highlighted through her work with the Lord Mayor's Community Trust, the problem is evident and growing. (It's difficult to find accurate, up-to-date figures. The 2001 Census found a total of 5,094 homeless people in Brisbane with 180 sleeping rough in the city centre. The figures will be higher now, 8 years later and likely to increase further with the pressures created by the current global economic downturn and its impact on the Queensland economy).
I referred earlier to the complexities of the problems the BYS and others are dealing with. Everyone here is acutely aware that homelessness is much more than mere "house-lessness": under its umbrella are a complex range of problems and personal crises, including family breakdown, domestic violence, unemployment, and addiction. It is devastating to an individual at whatever age it occurs, but the impact of homelessness is especially acute for young people, and can have a devastating impact on an individual's long term prospects for employment, education, health and capacity to form healthy and lasting personal relationships.
The Vision of the Brisbane Youth Service to provide "New Futures for Young People", and its emphasis on trust, respect and integrity in dealing with fragile, vulnerable and ‘at risk' young Queenslanders is one patently, unarguably worthy of support from the community. The Service's track record - over more than 30 years - adds to its claims for support. Its approach of providing both practical support for immediate needs as well as helping young people to address the longer term and underlying problems they face has proved very effective and made it a vital - and respected- part of the support network available in our City. This is an impressive record of commitment and has also built up a unique body of experience in dealing with the complex problem of homelessness.
The Irish have a proverb that goes "It is in the shelter of each other that people live." For me, these words encapsulate the loss suffered by young, homeless people - the loss of the sheltering envelope of family and friends, just as much as the loss of physical shelter. The words also, though, reflect the work of the Brisbane Youth Service in helping to re-establish a supportive network - a sheltering network - for homeless and vulnerable young people and children, to facilitate the provision of not just a secure roof over their heads, but also of support under their feet, as they seek to rebuild their lives in the community.
As Patron of the Service I want today to express special thanks to those who have supported the work of the Service, financially and in other practical ways. This support is greatly valued, as a tangible contribution not just to the Brisbane Youth Service, but to young Queenslanders in need who may, literally, have nowhere else to turn. By supporting the Brisbane Youth Service you are helping to provide shelter in the broadest and best sense of the word - that shelter that we all need, that we can provide to each other. On behalf of the people of Queensland, I express to you my deep thanks and appreciation, as well as the hope that you will continue to support this important organisation in the future, helping to secure a better future for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community.