Meet Your Australians - 2025 SA Young Australian of the Year Amber Brock-Fabel. ACM is proud to be media partner for the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.
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00:00I remember feeling like I was the most disempowered person in the world when I was 16.
00:07I felt really alone, separated from the decisions being made that impacted me and my generation.
00:13At 17, I wanted to do something about it, so I created the South Australian Youth Forum.
00:18It's a platform led by young people for young people to drive the change within our
00:23communities and create that space so other young people don't feel alone in such a
00:28busy world.
00:30The South Australian Youth Forum is a dynamic environment for young people across our state
00:35to come together, meet monthly, and discuss really important issues of relevance that
00:40directly affect us.
00:42We have been engaged in multiple levels of decision-making processes.
00:46We produce an annual report which reflects hundreds of young people's voices across
00:50South Australia through surveys, through workshops, and through consultations, and we present
00:56these to ministers and parliamentarians, community ambassadors, and academics at the
01:01end of each year.
01:03Often our reports are included into state-wide youth action plans, motions into state parliament,
01:09and other legislation as well.
01:12So last year we created two really big frameworks into mental health barriers to accessing mental
01:18health services in South Australia, and the barriers to accessing period products in schools.
01:24We were recently at the United Nations Summer of the Future in New York.
01:28We were expert witnesses at the National Inquiry into Civics Education, and we are looking
01:35into youth loneliness with Flinders University.
01:38A lot of people would see our work influencing these national decisions as some of the biggest
01:46highlights of the forum, and yes, they are incredible.
01:50The biggest highlight for me is being able to work alongside so many people doing incredible
01:59things.
02:01It just builds up every little inch of me and continues to mobilise my own passion.
02:08Youth voice is incredibly empowering, it's incredibly powerful as well, and youth community
02:15is even more powerful.
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