AYAC’s Place in the National Youth Affairs Story

The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) is the national peak body representing young people (aged 12–25) and the agencies and organisations of the youth and community sector that supports them. There have been many iterations of AYAC, stretching back over 80 years to the early days of national youth policy in Australia. AYAC and its forerunners have been fierce advocates of young people’s voices and progressed significant policy changes benefiting young Australians. However, the advocacy journey has not been without challenges, with operational funding for a national youth peak body not always being guaranteed by governments. This brief history charts AYAC’s place in the national youth affairs story.

National youth affairs became increasingly important to policymakers during the Second World War. A national Youth Advisory Committee was created in 1941 to provide advice to the federal government, particularly on young people’s fitness to serve in the armed forces. The Committee advised the Commonwealth National Fitness Council and is the earliest recorded national youth advice-giving body (Irving, Maunders & Sherrington 1995). Many of the current state-based youth affairs councils can trace their lineage back to the national Youth Advisory Committee and its state-based counterparts (Maunders 1984; Corney & Broadbent 2015) 

The National Youth Council of Australia (NYCA), established in 1960, was the first post-war youth advisory body. The NYCA operated effectively for many years, through several changes in government. During this time, it was supported by state-based youth affairs councils. This period of national collaboration was instrumental in creating an environment in which professional youth work could flourish, enabling the establishment of the Youth Workers Association (YWA) in 1968 and the founding of the first degree level youth work training course at Coburg State College (now RMIT) in 1977 and leading to the training of many thousands of professional youth workers and the establishment of further degree level programs in Youth Work at ECU, WSU, VU, ACU and diploma courses delivered across the Australian TAFE system (Corney 2021) .

AYAC is a direct descendant of the NYCA and predates government Offices for Youth and Ministries for Youth Affairs. In 1975, following the dramatic termination of the Whitlam (Labor) government, the NYCA was divided into 2 separate bodies - NYCA representing young people and a new Council of Australian Youth Organisations (CAYO) established to represent youth orgs. This dual advisory structure only lasted a short time until 1979 when the two separate bodies were merged back together to form the Youth Affairs Council of Australia (YACA). At this time YACA also established a sister organisation known as the National Association of Youth Work Trainers to represent the growing youth work education providers (this body is a forerunner of the current Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth & Community Work (PALYCW).

However, the Fraser-led (Liberal/National coalition) Commonwealth government at the time made further changes to widen advice beyond NYCA/YACA and so created a separate National Youth Advisory Group (NYAG) of young people under 30 years, located in the Office for Youth Affairs. This dual arrangement lasted until 1983 with the election of the Hawke (Labor) government who abandoned the NYAG. In 1992 the independent national youth peak body, YACA, was renamed and reconstituted as the Australian Youth Policy Action Coalition (AYPAC) with its offices relocating from Melbourne to Canberra. In 1996 AYPAC was ‘defunded’ after the election of the Howard (Liberal/coalition) government and youth advice was gathered via the creation of ‘Youth Roundtables’ by then Minister for Youth Affairs in 1998. These federal changes were mirrored in states like Victoria where the YAC was also defunded and its advisory services tendered out in 1999 by the Kennet led (Liberal/coalition) government (Corney 2020). However, AYPAC continued to operate as an unfunded youth peak until it was renamed and refunded as the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) by the Rudd (Labor) Government in 2007. AYAC was again defunded by the Abbot led Liberal/National coalition upon winning government in 2013. During COVID-19, AYAC received some project based funding from the Liberal coalition government to support young people during the pandemic, and was refunded by the incoming Albanese (Labor) government in 2022 ending a period of funding and youth policy uncertainty.

Much has been achieved by the national youth peak body over time - one significant standout was the conception and lobbying for federal government funding of the provision of the Commonwealth Youth Support Scheme (CYSS) in the 1970s which led to youth centres being established, with full time paid youth workers employed, all over Australia. Another important alliance was with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissions and the Commissioners support of YACA/AYPACs lobbying for the human rights of young people, particularly in relation to the issue of youth homelessness and poverty. This led to the formation of the National Youth Coalition for Housing in 1982 and subsequently to Australia governments ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990.

AYAC has undertaken significant national policy and advocacy work across many youth issues while also being an advocate for the professionalisation of Youth Workers. The National Definition of Youth Work statement was convened and facilitated by AYAC in 2013 and supported by state and territory Youth Affairs Councils. This has proved an important step that now informs the curriculum of tertiary level Youth Work training courses around Australia. AYAC was also instrumental along with CMY in the establishment in 2010 of the Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN) as the first national youth voice for multicultural young people.

In more recent times, AYAC has worked with the federal government to deliver its Youth Steering Committee charged with supporting the implementation of its flagship youth engagement strategy, Engage! A Strategy to include young people in the decisions we make (Office for Youth, 2024). Building on this work, AYAC has supported other stakeholders develop their youth advisory councils and run consultations between young people and decision-makers. It has also launched its new advocacy program CAMPAIGN.  

Continuing to build on its strong advocacy record, AYAC has submitted several submissions to government, covering cost of living, income support, education, housing, civic participation, youth justice and eSafety.

To improve sectoral collaboration and knowledge sharing, AYAC had also launched a National Youth Practitioners’ Network (NYPN) and sector blog, NYPN Briefing

AYAC’s current youth engagement, advocacy and sector work  reflects a long and successful history of national peak bodies facilitating the rights, agency and voice of young Australians, particularly those who are marginalised, disadvantaged and disenfranchised and the organisations that work with and alongside them.

Bibliography 

Corney, T. (2021). Professional Youth Work: An Australian Perspective. The Clearing House for Youth Studies and YNOT, Youth Network of Tasmania

Corney 2020 A Brief History of the Youth Workers Association, Youth Workers Australia

Corney, T., & Broadbent, R. (2016). 'From defence to human rights: the impact of youth policy on the professionalisation of youth work in Victoria, Australia'. European Union

Corney, T and Broadbent, R (2016) 'From defence to human rights: the impact of youth policy on the professionalisation of youth work in Victoria, Australia'. In: The history of youth work in Europe: Autonomy through dependency - histories of co-operation, conflict and innovation in youth work. Volume 5. Siurala, L, Coussee, F, Suurpaa, L and Williamson, H, eds. Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, pp. 49-56.

Maunders, D. (1999). Professional Lions and Multi-skilled Kangaroos: Youth work professionalism in South Africa and Australia. Youth Studies Australia, 18(1), pp.37-42.

Maunders 1983 “keeping them off the Streets’ History of youth organisations in Australia.  The Centre for Youth and Community Studies, Philip Institute. 

Irving, T., Maunders, D. & Sherington, G. (1995). Youth in Australia: Policy, administration and politics. Macmillan, South Melbourne, Australia.