City ready to sign up youth committee

A youth committee to advise Busselton City Council has been identified as a need at the latest Southern Rip Youth Voice Mock Council presentation.

About 20 Georgiana Molloy Anglican School students attended the mock council session last week, along with councillors Grant Henley, Terry Best, Jenny Green and Coralie Tarbotton.

The topic for the session was fly-in, fly-out and drive-in, drive-out family lifestyles, after a survey distributed to the region’s five high schools this term.

tudent presenter Jessica Miles said the topic was important as FIFO and DIDO stresses had an impact.

“This (stress) can snowball to family break-ups and this can affect teenagers,” she said.

As the session continued, discussions broadened from a focus on FIFO and DIDO family lifestyles to the needs of Busselton’s young people.

Student Charles Fedor raised a motion for a youth representative on the Busselton City Council and a motion for a youth crisis centre, to “nip any issue in the bud.”

“A youth representative will provide a much needed youth voice for the City of Busselton,” he said.

“A crisis centre is a safety net for youth.”

The motions were opened to informal briefing sessions, when councillors asked the students questions about how their proposals would be put in place.

After much discussion, the motion for a youth committee to advise the council was passed without opposition.

This committee would comprise two representatives voted in from each high school, a couple of councillors and a coupleof community members, based on a suggestion from Indiya Hayward.

The motion for a youth centre on the foreshore in line with the Busselton Foreshore Master Plan was also passed unanimously.

Cr Henley said he thought young people were currently under-represented on the council and the youth committee was a “great idea”.

He said the proposal would have to be looked into at the end of the year if it had the support of all schools in the region.