paul mallett proposes greater investment in the use of digital tools and additional online forums to amplify youth voices and expand youth engagement in City of Launceston decision making. paul believes the voices and ideas of children and young people matter, and as leaders we must tune in more and act on what we hear more authentically.

paul understands that Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is the global standard for children’s and young people’s participation in decision that affect them. Children have a right to be heard, and for their views to be taken seriously. paul also notes that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 promotes inclusive, participatory, and representative decision making at all levels, and specifically calls out the inclusion of youth.

Given this, and building upon the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) model currently in place in Launceston, paul supports the exploration of additional digital strategies to reach more young people and embed them meaningfully in local decision making.

paul proposes a co-design process with youth that considers the resourcing and adoption of strategies like:

1. Dedicated Youth Engagement Platforms

Explore use of platforms like Bang the Table / EngagementHQ, or local equivalents. For example, City of Launceston could creat a youth-focused engagement page like the City of Melbourne’s “Participate Melbourne site”. This site hosts polls, ideas walls, and quick surveys designed specifically for under-25s. Young people can drop pins on maps, vote up ideas, comment on draft strategies. The benefits include it being a safe, moderated space. And being quick, and fun to use with polls, emojis, photos.

2. Youth-specific Surveys + Social Media Integration

Expanding on the YAG Snap Polls, lever off young people’s use of social media to run online youth surveys with input promoted via Insta stories, Facebook youth pages, or Snap ads.  The benefits include being able to reach a wider cross section of the community (not just the usual student leaders), and it is accessible via smart phones.

3. Online Youth Forums

Use the online environment like how the City of Casey in Victoria ran an online “Youth Ideas Jam” during COVID. At that time young people joined a live Zoom + Jamboard session to brainstorm ideas for the Council Plan. The City of Launceston could host similar virtual “Hackathons” or design sprints, where students pitch solutions to real local problems. The benefit is no room hire nor set up or catering, and no travel required. This would support engagement of youth with transport barriers.

4. Social Media Takeovers

Explore giving young people “takeover days” on the Council’s Instagram or Facebook to share youth perspectives or run polls. For example, the City of Adelaide Youth Ambassadors have used council socials to post stories on housing and mental health. The benefit would be engaging community with an authentic youth voice, and raises the visibility of youth input as their peers see it.

5. Youth ePanels

Explore the establishment of a a standing “Youth ePanel” — a list of 500+ local young people signed up to receive short surveys a few times a year. This would act like a digital version of a standing focus group. The benefit would be an ongoing database of engaged youth, that could be approached for feedback on specific projects (parks, events, climate action).

6. Digital Storytelling + Podcasts

Support youth content creation. Like how the Maribyrnong City Council ran a youth storytelling project where young people shared digital stories about mental health and belonging — which were then used to inform youth mental health planning. This could also include Council Communications Unit co-creating podcasts or short TikToks explaining council projects. The benefits would be the publication of creative and relatable content that foregrounds youth voice.