Countdown to Australia’s First Every Youth Jury!

Media Release 3 – 7 July 2003

Australia’s first ever Youth Jury – to be held in Parramatta - is less than a week away.

The ‘ParraYouthMatters’ project is being coordinated by a team of students who are being supported by The University of Sydney and Southern Cross University. It seeks to assess the impacts of ethnic and cultural diversity on the Parramatta area.

With the countdown underway, the ‘Parra Youth Matters’ project team have organised the selection of the youth jurors and put them through their paces in a series of pre-Youth Jury workshops, which were designed to give them a taste of democracy and an opportunity to set the agenda for the Youth Jury.

The ‘Parra Youth Matters’ project team has been busy in recent months, speaking to schools and community organisations about the Youth Jury, encouraging 16 and 17 year olds from all types of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to participate.

After receiving a swag of participation forms from young people from all around Parramatta, the PYM team carried out a modified random selection that took into account gender, school-background, and cultural background.

Students from the following schools were selected as jurors:

Pendle Hill High School
Parramatta High School
Delany College
Catherine McAuley
Our Lady of Mercy College
Arthur Phillip
Tara Anglican
James Ruse
Parramatta High School
Sydney Girls High School
Parramatta Marist Brothers
Arthur Phillip
Macarthur Girls

At the final pre-Youth Jury workshop held last Sunday, the jurors discussed and debated several directions that the Youth Jury could take, before deciding to focus on: “The media adversely influences people's views about different cultures affecting perceptions of Australia as a nation.”

All that remains is for the Youth Jury to convene on July 14-16 and:

• Listen to and question informed presenters;
• Discuss and Debate their views and findings;
• Develop recommendations aimed at addressing the issues raised from the Youth Jury that encompass the needs of individuals, the community, and government.