In 2024, the Voices for Tasmanian Youth (VTY) Consultative Council shared their ideas with the Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People to help shape the Tasmanian Government’s child sexual abuse reform strategy, Change for Children.
A key message from the VTY was that the Government could do a better job communicating with children and young people.
With support from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young People worked with VTY members to build on these ideas.
Through workshops and a survey, input from young Tasmanians was used to co-create Communicate with Us, Not at Us! —a Communications Checklist designed to help government teams (and anyone communicating with young audiences) make their messages clearer, more engaging, and easier to understand.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights young people’s right to have a say in decisions that affect them (Article 12) and to access and share information (Article 13).
The Communications Checklist is a practical tool that will help ensure government communications support these rights, are meaningful, accessible, and inclusive for children and young people.