Thank you Honourable Chair, to the Third Committee, and to the Australian Government for the humbling honour to speak as Australia’s Youth Delegate. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land from which I have travelled from and all Aboriginal and Torres Islander young people. Let me begin by reading a message shared to me by a young person:

You have choked our rivers and poisoned the air. Skinned our forests and surrounded us in stone. You bled the Earth dry like a parasite, dying alongside our hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

Throughout this year, I have been learning about the best of what is, the areas of concern, and what could be for young people living in Australia. I have read this poetic decree first because it is an echo of many youth voices today, who whilst holding onto aspirations for a more accessible world, are still grappling with a myriad of changes in our environments and awaiting movement on the 2030 Agenda. My message today is one about the need for both non-tokenistic and transformative action on advancing human rights, to imbed the 2030 Agenda meaningfully and retain our hopes for the future.

Young people have acknowledged that, despite not a homogenous experience, health systems are providing further opportunities to access treatments and services promptly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategic partnerships and negotiations within the international community, and a move to Indigenous-led conversations on representation are also a positive change. However, they also point to the persisting issue of prolonged delays in accessible employment and economic opportunities, unequal distribution of youth-centric education initiatives in areas historically excluded, limited cultural knowledge transmission for Indigenous youth and truth-telling to all communities, ongoing issues of street and sexual harassment, and unequal implementation of climate policies at both local community levels and aid for partner states. These concerns don’t operate in silos:

“Please look after my world. I can't do much now, but when I'm older I want to feel safe, and happy. The environment is so important, we need to be doing everything we can to protect it”.

This message from a young person in Victoria shows hope, but also the brutal feeling of helpfulness, stagnation, and deterioration. So, it is now time to prioritise a rehaul of the approaches to achieving the 2030 Agenda, in a manner that is applicable to all contexts of young people living in Australia. But also recognise what the sustainable development goals really mean to us on a local level.

Yes, we are well-placed to address social challenges impacting their lives, demonstrated by widespread global mobilization. But we need to engage the voices of those who are often depicted as the ‘non-convenient’, who like myself, may have many layers of barriers to break. We need to recognise the ongoing struggle, leadership, and voice of Indigenous peoples including their youth in our path forward. Supporting our full participation and partnership in economic, social, and political life is a key to propelling the advancement of norms on gender, health and economic security, increasing all aspects of wellbeing, and creating safe and secure communities that meet the self-identified needs of young people.

One young person from regional New South Wales shared that they felt like they were becoming burnt out from trying to share their perspectives and being unable to make positive change. It is on us, collectively, to look to deeper engagement with community groups and formalise integrative learning environments for young people, to actualise solutions in their own ways. Whether these are taken up by young people or not should not be the centre of the conversation; it should be whether young people, in all their diversities, even have the option to do so in the first place.

As one 16-year-old young person said, they want the opportunity to be heard in a world that cares, because their ideas are legitimate, but their problems are real and severe. To be transformative is to be responsive and accountable, and this goes beyond just having a seat at the table. This is only one part. Young people need to feel that they are able to take the table by the edge and shake it when they feel their words are falling to the side. They need to be able to establish or creatively contribute existing tables. They need to be able to speak alongside voices of all generations, and have active feedback mechanisms easily accessible to the majority. Let young people build these tables not for you, but with you, because these are our tables too.

Thank you.