Opening of Manukau Youth Centre

Well, it is great to be here, back in Manukau so soon after my last visit.

After my last visit, the Manukau Courier published an article about the opening of the Specialist Youth Service, which Bill English and I attended.

I have to say though, the photos in the paper werent all that flattering.

It was good to see the Specialist Youth Service getting a high local profile, and I hope that it has helped more young people find out about the valuable services available to them.

It was also great, because, through the Manukau Courier, I learnt a few things from my last visit.

The Courier said that Bill English gave a lucidly warm speech.

Im not sure if that was a good thing or not.

Apparently, I had signs of youth - I read my speech, and I was over-prepared!

Well, Ill try not to read this speech too much - in fact, lets ditch it!

It is great to see so much happening for young people in Manukau. All I would ask, is that you ensure that young people are continually involved in the development of your activities, and that wherever possible you involve young people in the decision making process.

North Health, in supporting this project have shown that young peoples health and wellbeing is important. It is vital that we provide a comprehensive health and health education system that empowers young people to look after themselves.

I have recently been talking about lowering the legal drinking age to 18 years. In some quarters this hasnt gone down well, but I still believe it is the right approach to take. My view is that young people do drink, and we need to start taking a risk management approach to this. In recognising that young people do drink, we can start to educate them about the effects and dangers of alcohol, and allow young people themselves to make informed choices.

I would hope that programmes run by the Youth Specialist Health Service, here at the Youth Centre, will help with this process.

It is exciting to see projects like this Youth Centre continuing to grow. It is also good to see a wide range of stakeholders being involved in the development of the Youth Centre. I hope that these productive partnerships continue to flourish.

I believe that successful community projects are driven by a wide variety of people and agencies. They need the communities support and sense of ownership. If people are involved in the management and direction of the scheme, it will surely flourish.

Youve certainly given yourselves a huge task here, and your approach to providing an integrated youth service, is, I think, the right one. One of the many problems that our young people face, is being able to find the right service for their needs. An integrated approach such as this is an excellent way to get over this hurdle.

I certainly hope that people are going to have a lot of fun here!

Thats what being young is all about.

Sometimes, I feel that we can just get too bogged down in policy, training and education. Lets make sure that we remember to put some fun into being young!

From what Ive heard about future developments of the Youth Centre, it looks as though youre going to have lots of fun. This will attract plenty of young people to the centre, and help in the work of providing health services and in pushing all those important health messages about drinking, drugs, sex and being positive about your body.

One of my main roles as Minister of Youth Affairs, is to represent young people in Parliament and to ensure that their voice is heard by the Government. However, some of the most important things that happen for young people, happen here, on the ground, where Parliament doesnt really have a say.

Here, in this Youth Centre and in your communities, it is over to you. You need to represent yourselves, ensure that your voice is heard and that you get a say in decisions that affect you.

Dont let the wrinklies decide everything for you. Stand up for what you want, tell them that you want to be involved, and realise that this Youth Centre is YOURS.

If you do it this way, youll probably get what you want and need, but more importantly, it will probably work.

So, a challenge for the young people using this centre is - to make it yours, use it and plan for what you want to achieve.

With that in mind, I have great pleasure in officially opening the Manukau Youth Centre, and wish you all the best in the future development of this great project.

ENDS