Welcome to the August edition of Tasmania Together eNews. The newsletter is published to showcase activities of our partner and other business and community organisations who are working towards achieving Tasmania Together goals and benchmarks.   It provides partner news, information on upcoming events, what the Progress Board is up to, and discussion on what is happening around key issues for Tasmanians.

Take a look at some of our partners' activities in the Partner News section. These activities contribute to a wide range of Tasmania Together goals and benchmarks and the State’s progress in general.

Each edition of eNews has tended to focus on one of the 12 goals in Tasmania Together.  In this edition we are going to be different. Young Tasmanians in particular, have a vested interest in the sort of society we want by the year 2020. This edition will focus on youth issues across all our goals, showcasing some of the projects and programs having an impact on young Tasmanians.

 

All the goals in Tasmania Together affect young people directly or indirectly – and many include specific standards for young people that the community wants to meet – whether that be support for young people who are at risk (goal 2); support for pre-school children to have an equal start (goal 3); a valued role in community life for young people now and in the future (goal 5) or support for the participation of young people in decision-making (goal 8).

This is the second year the Progress Board has held the Tasmania Together Youth Challenge (TTYC). The highly successful competition encourages students from K-12 to think about the future and express their views in creative ways.  Entries can be in a range of formats, including essays, art, multimedia and poetry.

Teachers and students from all schools were encouraged to participate and judging from the entries this year, there is a lot of enthusiasm out there. The competition has now closed with nearly 100 entries submitted and over 330 students and teachers involved.

Winners in each age category will be announced soon and posted on our website.  Winning entries will go on display in selected Service Tasmania outlets and feature in a brochure to be circulated to schools for the 2010 Youth Challenge.

For more information on the Challenge take a look at the website at: www.ttyouthchallenge.com.au 

 

Eat Well Tasmania and two government departments have embarked on an ambitious program to encourage healthy eating and physical activity in primary school students. Their efforts help promote a number of benchmarks in Goal 4, particularly 4.1.3 (children playing sport) and 4.1.4 (eating fruit and vegetables)

The Move Well Eat Well program is a partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, with significant guidance from health and community workers and their agencies statewide. It’s been a collaborative effort to offer Tasmanian primary schools recognition, support and partnerships, all in the name of promoting healthy eating and physical activity.

Read more...

 

The Local Government Association of Tasmania has been a long term and valued partner of Tasmania Together.  Local government is the grassroots level of government and not surprisingly, the Progress Board has focussed its efforts in encouraging local government to link its decision making to the community’s State plan. Here is a small sample of youth related programs underway in local government.

Councils around Tasmania are undertaking a range of activities to encourage young people to participate in decision-making and community life.  Devonport city is helping young people with their careers and the Launceston and Glenorchy City Councils are helping break down stereo-types.

Councils featured in this article are:

•   Devonport City Council – a Job in Local Government?
•   Launceston City Council – Breaking Down Stereotypes 
•   Glenorchy City Council – Young Women from Diverse Backgrounds Get a Say

If you want to know more about what the councils are doing, click here...

 

Office of Children and Youth Affairs (OCYA) – Promoting Tasmania Together Goals

The Office of Children and Youth Affairs (OCYA) in the Department of Premier and Cabinet makes a major contribution to a number of youth-related goals and benchmarks in TT.  Below are some of the initiatives and funding support provided by the OCYA that may be of interest.

The main function of the OCYA is to assist in the development and coordination of policies, programs and information for children and young people (0-25 years) across the three levels of government and the community sector.  The Office also works to improve access by young people to government decision-making.

A range of funding programs is available for youth related issues linked to TT.  The Youth Advisory Service (YAS) Funding Program provides up to $5 000 to improve access to information and services, and promote health and well being for young people aged 12 - 25 years.

Read more...

 

Catch & Care Project

Catch and Care is a major employer initiative being undertaken by Group Training Tasmania, aimed at reducing risky behaviour, including suicide prevention, amongst apprentices. The program trains officers in identifying the indicators of stress and risky behaviour and referring those affected to appropriate services.

Read more about this project:  Group Training "Catch & Care" Project

For further information contact:  Geoff Fader at gfader@bigpond.noet.au

 

     Tasmanian Early Years Foundation - Report Released

The Tasmanian Early Years Foundation (TEYF) signed a partnership agreement with TT in 2008. The agreement focuses on the development of indicators of progress for younger Tasmanians, particularly in the 0-5 age group. The Foundation recently released a major report on childhood indicators across Tasmania.

As one of its first priorities, the Tasmanian Early Years Foundation decided to bring together in one database a range of information that shows how well our children are faring in a number of important areas. The Outcomes in the Early Years: The State of Tasmania’s Young Children 2009 report produced by the Foundation provides some specific information about the health and wellbeing of our young children, how well they are developing and learning, and how safe they are.

Compared with children in many parts of the world, children in Tasmania, as in the rest of Australia, are faring well on many measures: infant mortality rates are low; a high number of babies are born full term; immunisation rates are high; and a high percentage of children are enrolled in Kindergarten.                       

Read more...

  Aurora Energy – Employing Young Tasmanians

Aurora Energy is doing its bit to employ young Tasmanians. The company has significantly increased its apprentice intake in 2009, doubling it to 25 for the year. The 2009 group is training in a range of trade qualifications and will undergo a rigorous, 10-week selection process.

Read more...

Colony 47 – Helping Shape Careers

Under the SCOPE – Local Community Partnerships program, Colony 47 has held a number of forums focussed on skills and career development. Skills for Sustainable Development was a three day hands-on project, open to highly focused students who are considering, or likely to consider a ‘green collar job’. Demand for skills in this are high which is not surprising given there are $31 billion worth of clean energy projects underway or planned.

The Careering About – School and Industry Leaders Forum gave the 24 participants who attended an opportunity to discuss local skills needs and shortages, local job prospects and career opportunities as well as local “good practice” examples in the Kingborough, Channel and Cygnet regions.

For further information on any of these forums, or the work of Colony 47, contact: Kate Churchill on KateC@colony47.com.au 

 

  Ten Year Review of Tasmania Together (TT)

Yes, we are a decade old and fast approaching half way to the year 2020.  As required under legislation, every five years the Progress Board consults with the Tasmanian community on what changes might be necessary to Tasmania. This keeps TT connected to the community’s wishes which inevitably change over the 20 year period of the plan.  The 10 Year Review of TT begins in 2010-11 and planning is already underway.

  New Benchmarks

One of the Board’s most important functions is to refine and develop new benchmarks to measure our progress. This is an ongoing process and we now have 29 new and revised benchmarks to be considered by Parliament, hopefully during the coming Spring session. The benchmarks cover a wide range of issues – from literacy levels to quality of life.

  Infosheets

The Board is always looking for new and effective ways of communicating progress on TT benchmarks to the broader community. In recent years the Board has added the Online Benchmark Reports (OBR) and annual Snapshot of Progress to its reporting methods.  We are currently working on a new approach, tentatively called ‘infosheets’, that focus on providing a short, one page summary of benchmark updates from the OBR. The summary will include benchmark data and interpretation from the OBR associated with some independent third party commentary. The idea is to tell a ‘story’ around the benchmark data and provide it to relevant stakeholders.

  New Board

As mentioned in the last e-newsletter, the terms of most Board members expire later this year.  Applications for membership of the new Board have closed and will now be considered by the Government. It is hoped the Premier can announce the new Board in October.

  New Partnerships

Finally, we have nearly updated all our current Partnership Agreements.  We can now focus our efforts on developing new agreements with business and community organisations.  Top of the list are the Tasmanian Agricultural Productivity Group, Natural Resource Management – North and the Premier’s Physical Activity Council.