The Young Citizen's Jury Survey Analysis
HOW CAN WE ENSURE WE HAVE A VIBRANT & SAFE ADELAIDE NIGHTLIFE?
The use of public space by children and young people has inspired much debate over the years. Children and young people use public space in similar ways to the rest of the community, the point of difference being that many children and young people do not have the economic means or eligibility (such as age) to access the same some venues and other social environments as adults.
Earlier in the year, the Premier Jay Weatherill announced the formation of the ‘Citizen’s Jury’, a consultative committee made up of randomly selected members of the South Australian Community. The purpose of the committee was to ‘come up with policy recommendations which aim to make Adelaide's nightlife safer and more vibrant'.
After observing the eligibility requirements and recruitment process for the Citizen’s Jury, it became clear that people under the age of eighteen would not be recruited and people aged eighteen to twenty-six were also scarcely represented. The dearth of young voices on the Citizen’s Jury resulted in a disparity in representation, and recommendations which excluded the thoughts, opinions and ideas of young people who not only have a right to use public space but also have a right to be consulted on decisions that may affect them and their use and access of public space in the future.
The Council for the Care of Children and the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, passionate proponents for children and young people, decided a parallel process was necessary to ensure that the voices of children and young people were able to be represented. We worked together to formulate a survey, called ‘The Young Citizen’s Jury’, that was open to both primary and secondary school student up to eighteen years of age.
Through the survey, we were able to capture the insights of children and young people about the way they use public space, and the ways in which they would like to use public space in the future. We found that children and young people have a range of great ideas about how to make Adelaide a safer and more vibrant place to visit.
This report provides a summary of those responses and is free to download. We anticipate that the results of this survey will be used by the Premier to complement and inform any response to the Citizen’s Jury recommendations.