NZ Association of Adolescent Health and Development

Education Centre, Palmerston North Hospital

Mihi.

Good morning and thank you for the invitation to speak to you this morning.

It seems to be very timely to be meeting with you to discuss young people's health and development issues.

Young people have been in the news a lot in the last few weeks, and I've certainly been kept busy talking about them to practitioners, adolescents and journalists.

The New Zealand Association for Adolescent Health and Development provides an excellent platform for promoting the health and wellbeing needs of young people. Your work in furthering co-operation, research and education is to be commended, and fits in perfectly with where I want to see health services for young people heading.

I think your attitude to young people is great.

Far too many people in decision making positions either don't care or don't know about the importance of involving youth, let alone how to go about it. But we all know that if young people are going to do or use something, they have to be involved and feel able to make it theirs.

So, I'm interested to hear that you are setting up a youth health council, and I look forward to hearing more about it's development.

Although young people are generally the healthiest group in society, that doesn't mean we should pay them no attention. If we don't catch problems early, or have preventative strategies in place, we may be creating bigger and costlier problems for later years.

Participation
It seems to me that there are a number of issues of specific importance to young people. Access to services is a big one and then as well as the provision/accessibility issues, how do we provide the information and education required. How much information do we make available? How as a society do we ensure that adolescents have the best possible opportunities for well-being if their childhood starting point wasn't the best.

While everyone has an opinion on these matters, it is only when we involve youth as creators of a service, rather than simply consumers, that we have a much better chance of ensuring that they are safe and healthy.

Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about motivation and the keys to success and development knows that the foundation has to be dealt with first.

Whether we look at Maslow or McGregor, they all say that before we can develop to our fullest potential we must be healthy, feel safe and be included. Why then, do so many adults refuse to allow young people's input?

Why do we have an attitude that says "adolescence is just a phase, get over it!"?

When, as a nation, will New Zealand put it's money and attitudes where it's mouth is. If we really believe they are the future leaders why aren't we harnessing and celebrating that enormous potential?

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children the right to express their views about things that affect them. Frequently, however, they are dismissed as worthless.

If, just for a moment, we could stop and listen to what young people are saying, the decisions each of us take about our communities would be different.

The Commonwealth Youth Programme conducted a survey on youth empowerment in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. The young people surveyed said they wanted a world in which finite resources are not wasted and human resources are not taken for granted.

When this nation's youth are empowered and allowed to participate in their communities they learn a lot about themselves, others, the process of decision making and the dilemmas of responsibility.

But perhaps most importantly, the quality of decisions improves because all of the information can be considered.

So, we all have a role in youth empowerment and involvement.

Services need to be an agent for social change and not an agent of social control.

Health
In the area of health, there is much we can do to involve and encourage young people to participate and learn.

One Stop Shops are one of the ways we can provide young people with easy access to the support and services that they need. From what I have seen, One Stop Shops are proving to be a tremendous success and we should continue to learn from their development.

When I visited Dunedin a few months ago I met with the staff of the Youth Specialty Service.

One of the roles that they play is to provide co-ordination. And frankly, given that the resources applied to adolescent health have been relatively scarce, it will be only through ensuring that all services are co-operating that we're going to make any great change to what we're achieving in youth health.

The Service calls a meeting every week, and staff from most of the youth services in Dunedin come together to share information and discuss the challenges they are facing.

It provides an opportunity for professionals to see what others are doing and for gaps to be identified and plugged. As happens often when communication such as this occurs, workers realise that they are dealing with the same people.

We've got to get past the mentality of "that's my patch". Let's face it - if someone succeeds on the international stage we all share the excitement and satisfaction. So, if someone's not doing so well, shouldn't we all share the responsibility?

Anyway, recently I have raised a few health issues which I'd like to discuss with you briefly.

Many of theses things have been raised with me by young people in various forums too.

Condoms
Condoms. Dare to say it in public and you're in trouble! The speech that has caused the controversy was to the Auckland Peer Sexuality Support Group - another example of young people being involved in health and well-being.

The reason for my call for condoms to be available in the places where young people are, is because we have to be prepared to meet young people on their terms. I think we should be prepared to debate this issue because so far young people have not been that great at accessing the traditional services that have been available.

Also, a 1996 Education Review Office report showed that about 50% of schools were not teaching the sexual health component of the health syllabus.

People who predict soaring promiscuity from liberal condom availability offer few realistic alternatives to keep young people safe.

I very much doubt that improving access to condoms will increase promiscuity. What it would do is ensure that young people are more able to keep themselves safe from pregnancy and STDs.

Sex education is a complex area. Parents have a vital role informing their children about sexuality and relationship issues, the need for self-respect and positive body images. This is about both physical and emotional safety.

I strongly support the idea that we should teach young people that it is OK to say "NO" and recognise the limits that are right for them.

As well as the basic facts and safety precautions, learning to relate positively to others and to communicate is vital. That's why I support the work of the Peer Sexuality Support Group. It is a group of young people who teach their peers about sex and relationships from different cultural and philosophical perspectives.

A policy of condom vending machines in schools, a health nurse on site or the teaching of sex education is a decision for Boards of Trustees. If young people are going to access the health information and services they need, I reckon we should be prepared to go to them.

Of course this is going to be controversial - sex is a deeply personal thing - but when it comes to preventative health, we need to be realistic.

Let's get our heads out of the sand.

I mean, how many of us remember giggling to our friends, "no, don't be silly, my parents don't have sex"! I suspect that is the attitude of many young people.

Alcohol
Earlier this week the Alcohol Advisory Council released a survey which showed that one in four young people were heavy drinkers.

A worrying figure. For many in your field it will not be surprising.

Earlier this year I expressed my qualified support for the proposal to lower the drinking age to 18 years. If the drinking age is lowered I believe age identification cards should be introduced. There should also be a nil blood-alcohol limit for young drivers, and no exceptions to the age at which alcohol can be purchased.

Hosts have a responsibility to ensure that patrons aren't drunk and that people under the legal drinking age are not being served. An age identification card would not only assist them in fulfilling their legal responsibility, but would also assist those young people who are legally entitled to drink.

We need to make the law clearer for those who want to consume and for those responsible for enforcing it by having a single identifiable age.

The ALAC survey revealed that young people who are non-drinkers are more likely to say their parents don't drink. Lighter drinkers are more likely to have been given alcohol by their parents, and heavier drinkers are more likely to have obtained the alcohol themselves in spite of being under age.

This clearly shows the need for not only educating young people, but also educating parents as to their role in ensuring that their children are safe.

It also says something about the inability or refusal of retailers to identify a person's age.

Up to 94% of 16 - 18 year old males are already drinking alcohol. This demonstrates the need to promote safe and sensible drinking rather than duck the issue and pretend it doesn't happen.

There were some very good things that came out of the ALAC survey. Four out of five young people believed that drinking can damage your image. That message needs to be reinforced. When asked what the biggest risk was, most of the young people said drink-driving. It seems to me that message has sunk in. I hope that the new ALAC campaign will have a similar effect on attitudes towards drunks and heavy drinking.

The fact that most of the people surveyed were not even aware that they were heavy drinkers says something about the attitudes of the country as a whole. I really believe that alcohol is not just an issue for young people. We need to educate adults too about the problems associated with heavy drinking, such as unwanted sex or harassment, smoking, drug use, drunk driving and violence.

The ALAC message is strong - but it doesn't preach. It provides young people with information and places the decision in their hands.

After seeing the adverts, I hope that many more people, and not just the young, will stand back and ask themselves the ALAC question:

"Where's that drink taking you?"

The message fits with one that my mother gave me from the time I was young, and I think that it has stood me in good stead.

She always said that I could do what I wanted to do, as long as I could live with the consequences.

I believe that if we present young people with the facts and options, then they are likely to make the right choice.

There is a common thread to these two issues, and to my stance on many other youth issues. I want to ensure that young people are informed, involved, safe and responsible.

Some of it is about managing risk and minimising harm. Some of it is about prevention and education. Above all, it's not about preaching

Since becoming Minister of Youth Affairs I have strived to keep to my goal of developing a society that is safe, healthy and enterprising - and I intend to stick to that goal.

Thank you for the opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you. I'm more than happy to take questions if you have any.

ENDS