‘No one wants to be the odd one’: Growing up as a teenage boy today

Today’s post is written by Aiden and Zach with Sharon Bessell and Cadhla O’Sullivan from the Children’s Policy Centre, at the Australian National University. A part of the Children’s Policy Centre’s work is to contribute to strong and supportive communities for children and young people. Aiden and Zach are both aged 13 and have contributed their expertise to thinking about what communities can do to support children and young people.

Their important messages include that we can never know for sure what’s going on in a person’s life until we make the effort to understand them and their cirumstances, and also how much kids can value having adults in a variety of roles to talk to - both at school and beyond.

boys and men, children, Lived experiencePower to Persuade25 September 2026

Who shapes the questions we ask? Holding rigour and reflexivity together

In today’s post, Dr. Maedeh Aboutalebi Karkavandi Senior Research and Evaluation Analyst at Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand (GSANZ) reflects on the first day of the Australian Evaluation Society conference in Darwin, where a keynote from Dr Robyn Ober challenged her to think more deeply about where questions come from and whose perspectives they reflect.

Lived experience, ConferencesPower to Persuade17 September 2026#aes26DRW, Reflexivity, Conference, Kapati Method

The middle of our Venn diagram: Research partnerships with the disability sector

Lived experiencePower to Persuade27 August 2026Disability, Collaboration, Policy Research, partnerships

Crossover Kids: When Family Violence Victims Become Youth Justice Statistics

To finish the week, we continue to explore the theme of young people’s rights this time through a piece by Ananya Awasthi, research assistant at the Centre for Human-AI Information Environments (CHAI) at RMIT University and Master of Public Policy graduate. In this blog, Ananya writes about crossover kids who are children involved in both the child protection and criminal justice systems and makes the case for greater communication lines and information sharing between these areas.

21stC Policy and Rights, childrenPower to Persuade21 August 2026Young people, human rights, justice, child protection

Economic Units or Rights-Bearers? Who is the International Student under the Australian Strategy for International Education (ASIE)?

Continuing our theme on young people’s rights, Zaina Zulfiqar, Policy Advisor for FORE Good and recent Master of Public Policy (RMIT) graduate, argues for the need for Australian policy to uphold international students’ rights by ensuring that they are provided with appropriate support, protection and care.

From Housing Readiness to Housing Rights: Making the Case for Australia’s Housing First for Youth Policy

Last week, we published a blog about how financial pressures are impacting the lives of young Australians. This plays out in various ways, one of which is by creating barriers for young people to accessing secure and affordable housing. Below Kylie Smith, Operations Manager of MCM Housing and Master of Public Policy graduate from RMIT, makes the case for Australia’s Housing First for Youth Policy, emphasising the importance of housing ‘rights’ over housing ‘readiness’.

21stC Policy and Rights, HousingPower to Persuade17 August 2026housing, Young people, human rights

Young Australians’ finances: A five year snapshot

Young Australians are resilient but financially stretched thin. This new report analysing 2,731 survey responses and 150 interviews from a nationally representative sample of Australians aged 18-24 from 2021–2025 shows how.

We Need More Spaces Like Women Deliver

Power to Persuade7 August 2026

Speaking of dialogue: Better conversations for Tasmania

Good dialogue doesn't happen by chance. Drawing on insights from a Tasmanian Leaders workshop, Frieda Moran and Logan Linkston explore some of the principles, mechanisms, and leadership attributes that make good dialogue possible.

When children's worlds are small: Why access is a design issue

In the quest to improve outcomes for children, schools often bear the brunt of reform. However, the foundations of advantage and success are laid long before children enter a classroom. Informal learning experiences such as sport, arts activities, libraries, travel and participation in community life help build confidence, language, belonging and aspiration. Drawing on insights from practice and research, Sachie Yasuda argues that unequal access to these experiences creates a hidden dimension of inequality, and that policy must do more to support children and families to navigate unfamiliar spaces and opportunities.

children, Education, Inclusive neighbourhoodsPower to Persuade27 July 2026Access, equallity, learning, children

Financial education needs an evidence infrastructure

Evidence matters, but evidence that is inaccessible or difficult to apply will have little real-world impact. As financial education continues to gain prominence in schools and communities, questions are growing about how research can better inform practice. Tracey West argues that alongside investment in research, we need an evidence infrastructure that helps translate knowledge into effective practice.

Children are feeling cost-of-living pressures too

For several years, Australians have been talking about cost-of-living pressures. We have debated inflation, interest rates, housing costs, groceries and energy bills. But much less attention has been paid to the people least responsible for these pressures, and the least able to change their circumstances: children.

Australia needs a new approach to financial wellbeing

A landmark new research report launched last week, led by Honorary Professor Roslyn Russell, has found Australia needs a more coordinated and integrated national approach to financial wellbeing. The Good Shepherd Institute were fortunate to attend the launch and have already seen the report's insights inform our evaluation of a disaster recovery program submitted to the Queensland Government, demonstrating its immediate relevance to policy and practice. This post by co-author Dr Jozica Kutin highlights the need for systems to work together especially given the overlap with climate change, technology and health. This post was originally published by Ecstra Foundation, who funded the research, and is republished here with permission.

Loneliness is a key driver of the high number of young people Not in Education Employment or Training (NEETs) in the UK

Creating using evidence, Education, Finance and economics, Issues, Policy and governance, Politics, EmploymentPower to Persuade11 June 2026Young people, education, evidence-based policy, employment, unemployment, Belonging

The care crisis Victoria cannot afford to ignore

Advocacy, childrenPower to Persuade9 June 2026out-of-home care

Kitchen table conversations for place-based disaster preparedness

What if you could sit down over dinner with your mates and get a bit more prepared for the next fire or flood? Katie Moon, Sophie Yates and Elise Remling discuss their concept of ‘relational communities of place’ and how people can draw on existing social connections to improve their own disaster preparedness.

Community engagementPower to Persuade26 May 2026Disaster management, social policy