Premier’s Forum on Young People, Alcohol and Drugs
28 February 2007
Over 100 people attended the one-day forum on 28 February 2007 which was officially opened by the Honourable Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland. The Premier’s Forum on Young People, Alcohol and Drugs gave young people from south-east Queensland a chance to discuss the impact of alcohol and drug misuse on the wellbeing of young people with representatives from government and the community.
The key messages from the forum were presented to Warren Pitt, Minister for Seniors and Youth and will assist the Queensland Government to develop future policies and initiatives to deliver better services to meet the needs of young Queenslanders.
Young people from Brisbane Youth Service, Zigzag, Indigenous Youth Health Services, Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service, Gold Coast Drug Council and Narangba Valley State High School delivered presentations and participated in the discussions.
Participants also heard presentations from Shane Beacall, Director of the Youth at Risk Alliance, a program of Wesley Mission Brisbane on the Gold Coast and David Murray, Executive Director of the Youth Substance Abuse Service, a specialist service for young people aged 12 to 21 in Victoria who are experiencing significant problems with drug and alcohol use.
Key messages – summary
- Commitment including funding and resourcing, and flexible pools of funding.
- Early intervention and prevention, the role of schools and other organisations with which young people are regularly engaging. Support and responsiveness is necessary along the continuum, as opposed to just intervening early to prevent drug and alcohol abuse.
- Accommodation and other reasons (e.g. family violence, lack of accommodation due to an unsafe home environment, discrimination), behind the causes of alcohol and drug use and abuse.
- This forum wants a respectful response to today’s incredible performances. We would like to meet with the Premier again to see if anything comes from this.
- Attention to young people with dual diagnosis / complex needs. This requires a holistic response rather than a parallel response.
- Young people as the focus and centre of responses, rather than alcohol and drug abuse being the focus.
- It’s important to find creative ideas and solutions, as funding is always going to be limited, e.g. private sector funding, volunteer networks. Legislation needs to be amended or considered to protect people trying to help young people. This is particularly an issue for schools in supporting its teachers dealing with young people. Support needs to be continuous and assist with professional growth.
- Approach in schools is about making good choices, not just ‘saying no to drugs’. Schools are very good at supporting students and trying to keep them engaged, although this may vary across schools.
- More creative engagement of young people may be required.
For further information contact Office for Youth on (07) 3008 8619.
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Last updated: 01 October 2008.