Children’s Commissioner Helen Connolly listens to Port Lincoln young people

Since becoming the state’s first Commissioner for Children and Young People in April, Helen Connolly has been undertaking a Listening Tour and visited more than 150 Port Lincoln young people last week.

In a bid to find out the values and needs of young people Ms Connolly has been travelling through regional South Australia and while in Port Lincoln listened to students and young people from Port Lincoln High School, Kirton Point Children’s Centre, Navigator College, West Coast Youth and Community Support, Eyre Futures, Baptist Care, Red Cross and some children in foster care.

IDEAS: Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly hears ideas from students Cameron Decoster and Mira Liebenberg as part of her Listening Tour

She said many young people in Port Lincoln were calling for various age appropriate spaces like playgrounds, basketball courts and a youth centre.

“So places they can go that are age appropriate for them and that aren’t full of little kids or older kids.”

Navigator College student Cameron Decoster said it was great young people were able to have in say in what would shape their future.

“I think it’s great that we’re able to have these kind of talks with superiors who ultimately make the decisions for us,” he said.

The Listening Tour will finish in September and a report on the views of children and young people will inform the work produced by the Commissioner.

Source: http://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/4850204/lincoln-young-people-heard/