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This month at our final meeting of the year we had quite a lot to discuss going into the new year and finishing off this year. Our guests for this meeting were three youth representatives from the School Strike 4 Climate and an adult advisor who works with them.

We worked with them to gain an insight into their organisation and more specifically we looked into how the ran and organised their events, What their group dynamic was like behind the scenes and how at the end of the day they aimed to achieve their goals through activism. We learnt as much as we could from this to further improve our efforts in our pursuit to help with the current climate crisis. Moving into the future and specifically in the first half of next year we are looking to begin major efforts to increase our assistance with raising awareness surrounding the climate crisis, especially since this is an issue that so many of our youth network feel so passionate about.

Also, at this meeting one of our members: Nishtha shared a few of her designs for a new Fremantle Youth Network official shirt. It was great for us to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each design. This is a very exciting for all of us as having official shirts will make it easier for us to represent ourselves when helping causes we support.

We are really looking forward to the new year and all that we can bring to it, with a plethora of new ideas and projects we look forward to everything we have offer.

On Friday 20 September there were a number of climate strikes that took place in Australia and worldwide.

Members of the Fremantle Youth Network identified that they would like to attend unified as the FYN, for those that were already individually planning to attend.

There was a crowd of over 10,000 people that attended the strike in Perth, Forrest Place. We caught up with Mayor Brad Pettitt while we were there.

The Fremantle Youth Network plan to be more active in this space. Stay tuned for updates.

The September FYN meeting was very interesting and interactive as we had a guest speaker come in and speak to us, giving us valuable knowledge on event planning. We learnt about the importance of planning and all the work that must go into an event to ensure it is safe, legal and an accessible place for all.

We spoke about Frankie the Panda which will be our event mascot that will be shown in pictures at Freo Youth events such as the upcoming events: Adulting 101 and our Makerspace Open mic night. We spoke about the possibility of attending the Climate Change strike and also about meeting the Hong Kong youth exchange delegates. I think the whole team would agree it was overall an informative and exciting meeting.

Update by Margherita

This meeting we have been planning for 25under25 Makerspace, a youth arts event held in conjunction with the 25under25 art exhibition at the Moores Building. Makerspace is planned for Thursday 3 October and we are hoping to have lots of creative activities on the night.

Our guest speaker this August was Michael ‘Mo’ O’Mera from the National Youth Commission Inquiry. Michael facilitated a discussion about what we felt is working and what isn’t with schooling and university, reflecting on our own experiences or what we had observed with others. This was done as part of the National Youth Commission Inquiry’s focus groups, which aim to collect research into what young people have to say about certain issues. See https://nycinquiry.org.au/ for more information.

Fremantle Council has responded to calls from the Fremantle Youth Network for urgent action to address climate change. Members of the Network wrote to Mayor Brad Pettitt and Fremantle councillors to raise their concerns about the lack of action on climate change and urge the council to be their voice to highlight the issue.

At its meeting on Wednesday 22 May 2019 the council accepted the Network’s letter and responded by declaring the world was in a state of climate emergency that required urgent action by all levels of government, including by local councils.

The Youth Network’s letter to the council said climate change was the issue that had dominated their recent meetings. “We ask that the Fremantle Council supports the voices of young people who cannot vote in the upcoming federal election who want action on climate change. Will you be our voice to highlight this issue?”

Read more here.

The acknowledgement to country spoken by Hazel Dortch commenced the agenda of the meeting. The minutes written from the previous meeting were then accepted as true and correct, following this we touched on actions rising from the previous minutes including the MySay Fremantle portal accessibility and the YACWA membership process.

We then spoke about the Fremantle Youth Network Planning day, looking at priorities in, issues that affected us, training we would like to receive, our own personal interests and dates/days we found were particularly significant.

The annual Mission Australia survey was then introduced to the group, it was made apparent that the Network should share the Fremantle code within their friend groups and schools so that the council can get a true indication of teenagers issues and ideas who live within the city. Following the tech talk the idea of a social media platform for the youth network was brought up and acknowledged as still being developed but will soon be up and running.

The network then deliberated the wording and final thoughts on the formal letter that will be sent to schools, universities, and institutions in the Fremantle vicinity addressing the main focus of the group and the members within it.

The group then were lucky enough to have an amazing guest speaker, Rhiannon; the Fremantle community engagement officer who explained all the roles and powers of local government, including formal council meetings and voting. She then further discussed the position the youth network would have in the MySay Fremantle page, including our own ideas, focuses and singular profiles, plus she actioned all members to sign up for the site.

The main focus for the meeting then diverged to the most prevalent issue that the group would like to focus on which currently is Climate Change. The youth network discussed the recent and ongoing school strikes for climate and how Fremantle is one of three local governments in Australia to receive a One Planet accreditation in 2014. It was then further reiterated how Fremantle, as a council, are looking to be 100% renewable by the year 2025, currently looking at campaigns such as Living Smart, 3 Bins FOGO (Food Organic Green Organic) and being a Water Wise Council.

Update by Olive

What's important to you? The Mission Australia youth survey is now open for 15-19 year olds. The City of Fremantle code is 85504 and you can find the survey here: www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-impact-policy-advocacy/youth-survey