In June last year I followed up a media report about the federal government de-funding the national peak body for youth affairs, saying it didn’t believe a single peak body is necessary and it is “developing plans to consult with young Australians using a more focused and targeted approach.”
That was published at New Matilda as ‘Another Ride on the Youth Engagement Merry-Go-Round’.
See it here:
http://www.morethanjusttalk.com.au/round-we-go-again-the-listening-to-youth-merry-go-round/
I was curious about the promised plans to consult and made a note to follow up six months later. Which revealed they have no plans and none are on the way. Another contribution to the trust deficit between citizens and government. The story I wrote was published at New Matilda as ‘Youth Engagement: Senator Scott Ryan’s Merry-Go-Round Has Stalled’.
The story is here:
https://newmatilda.com/2015/01/28/youth-engagement-senator-scott-ryans-merry-go-round-has-stalled
New Matilda
New who you may say? In case you haven’t heard of them, New Matilda in talking about itself on its website, has this to say:
“New Matilda is independent journalism at its best. The site has been publishing intelligent coverage of Australian and international politics, media and culture since 2004. You’ll find new stories on the homepage daily.”
Find more background and see their work here: https://newmatilda.com
I would add in recent times they have unearthed public interest stories that mainstream media was overlooking. Or ignoring. Such as:
- the prime Minister’s daughter receiving a private college scholarship no-one else seemed to know about
- a University of Sydney academic who had been involved in a review of the National School Curriculum emailing colleagues with racist and mysoginistic views
- the removal of support staff from the immigration detention centre on Nauru amid false accusations they had breached their work contracts by assisting asylum seekers with protest actions
A valuable contribution to public debate.