Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 16(2), 2006 Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa1 Anita Harris School of Political and Social Inquiry Monash University Citation: Harris, Anita (2006). “Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa.” Children, Youth and Environments 16(2): 220-230. Issues of child and youth participation in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa have distinctive local features; at the same time, they share many qualities with those in other Western countries. In this introduction, I provide some regional context for the participation debate by discussing the demographic, socioeconomic and political environment for children and young people in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa. I identify a tension between social changes that have ushered in an agenda of child and youth participatory rights and the economic and political forces that have made meaningful participation for a diverse range of youth difficult to achieve. The collection of articles for this special focus region highlights in various ways how this tension has become the key challenge for participatory programs, research and policy in the region. Throughout the introduction, I refer exclusively to the work of authors from Australia and New Zealand to provide readers with an overview of local work on this topic. A demographic snapshot of children and youth in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa helps to situate debates about participation in the region. Children and young people constitute just over 27 percent of the populations in both Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001; Statistics New Zealand 2001). Unlike in many other Western nations, the geographical makeup of these countries is such that youth often live in rural and regional areas that are isolated from major urban centers and cities. There is also significant ethnic, cultural and religious diversity amongst children and youth in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa, as both countries are home to Indigenous populations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia and Maori in 1 Aotearoa is the Maori (Indigenous) name for New Zealand. Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation in Australia … 221 New Zealand/Aotearoa); both were colonized by Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries; and both countries have received migrants and refugees from the AsiaPacific region, Europe and, more recently, Africa. Further, while the overall standard of living in these countries is high, the economic and social well-being of children and youth is mediated by class, culture and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, ability and location. The interdisciplinary nature of child and youth participation studies in the region is shaped by these demographic features of children and youth, and also reflects and responds to changing socioeconomic trends that have an impact on young people in the region. As Johanna Wyn and I (2005, 272) have written elsewhere, Australia is a large, sparsely populated continent and a population of approximately 19 million people, who live in cities and regional towns, largely concentrated on the coastal fringe. New Zealand consists of two main islands, and has a relatively small population of approximately 4 million people. While they are both migrant societies that have Indigenous populations, the different historical origins and subsequent social and economic development between the two countries means that today there are both historic and contemporary differences that impact on young people’s lives. Yet young people in Australia and New Zealand do share some common circumstances. They have grown up in English-speaking countries in the Pacific that were colonised during the 1800s. Young people born in the early 1970s in Australia and New Zealand are shaping their lives in the context of significant changes to many aspects of life that the preceding generation took for granted. These significant changes have been both positive and negative. Some historical and legal circumstances brought about by social changes of the 1960s and 1970s have greatly improved the status and position of children and young people in Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa and have enhanced their participatory capabilities. For example, the current generation of young Australians is the first to have grown up under a constitution that recognizes Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Many young Australians...