Chris Varney

Chris' Blog

Canberra Blog: Hitting up the big country town!

Touching down in the Capital, I head to Greenhills Conference Centre for the UNYA ACT Territory Conference. I love the topic – “Climate Crossroads: Climate policies beyond Kyoto...” The youth delegates are a great mix of students from across Canberra’s schools who each represent UN member states for the Conference’s mock UN General Assembly. Our chats on local issues identify mental health as a key challenge – both the stigma associated with ‘labels’ and the lack of community understanding towards mental illness.
How You Can Act in Tasmania

Here are just a few ways you can get involved in youth affairs in Tasmania:
Devonport, Tasmania: 22nd - 23rd of May

Devonport sits on the North West Coast of Tasmania, and so I wave home to Victoria looking out over the Bass Strait. Here my chats with students from Reece High School and UTAS focus on Indigenous Rights, Climate Change and Gay Rights. The young people I met passionately advocated that the Global Financial Crisis should not make us ‘blind’ to the challenges we have in promoting and celebrating different cultures and tackling Climate Change. One girl Sophie, like Cassie in Lonnie, enthusiastically writes down the Power Shift website and asks her teacher whether she could get the school’s support.
Launceston, Tasmania: 21st - 22nd of May

I arrive in ‘Lonnie’ due to the amazing generosity of Lily from UNYA TAS who drove me all the way from Hobart. Immediately I once again hear the ‘quiet anger’ from young people about a perceived lack of action on environmental sustainability and climate change. Launceston youth are concerned with the installation of the Pulp Mill and fear it will be a huge detriment to the future of their environment and bring little economic gain.
Hobart, Tasmania: 19th - 21st of May

Tassie is cold! I look and sound like a typical ‘Mainlander’ in Hobart’s streets, all rugged up and complaining about the chill, but amazed by the ‘greenness’ of Tassie when compared to dry Melbourne.

I am blown away by the perspectives of young people in Hobart. I spent some time with Yr 8s & 9s at Sacred Heart, New Town. When I asked them, “What international issues are important to you?” I was bombarded with ideas and opinions on global warming and child slavery. The global understanding at Sacred Heart is impressive – and has perhaps resulted from the migration of many Sudanese families to Tassie.

The Youth Representative is a fully accredited member of the Australian Delegation to the United Nations in New York, and has been managed in partnership between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the United Nations Youth Association of Australia (UNYA Australia) since 1999. UNYA Australia is a national youth network strengthening the global awareness of young people, and their voice and participation in the community.