Listening to youth more often will make them feel that their voices count. Only then will they become interested.

We must let the young be heard by listening to them, its the only way to make them feel that they count.

Young people traditionally have had a lack of interest in politics, but a number of high profile scandals – from ‘children overboard’ to the Iraq War and more recently the citizenship debacle – have all served to reinforce the view that it’s inherently untrustworthy.

“There’s a significant degree of apathy and as people grow up they decide politics can’t be trusted.”
“It’s part of a global trend, but to simply tell people they need to be involved is the wrong attitude to take, perhaps the basic question needs to change.

“There’s nothing wrong with skate parks, but simply building a skate park ‘for the youth’ is symptomatic of that ‘tick the box’ mentality.

“If we showed young people their voice was meaningful it would make a huge impact, they’d get involved if they felt like they mattered.”