The youth forum at Newman Senior Technical College heard from students drawn from Hastings Secondary College Port Macquarie Campus, MacKillop College, Camden Haven High School, St Joseph’s Regional College and Newman Senior Technical College.

The feedback will help inform the state government’s policy direction.

NSW advocate for children and young people Andrew Johnson led the forum.

The students discussed what worked well in the community, what didn’t work well in the community and the top three things they would like to see changed.

St Joseph’s Regional College student Eilidh Aldridge said the forum gave young people the opportunity to convey what they thought the priorities were in their area and what support was needed.

“Most students had similar notions towards our local society, raising concepts about what we could do to further benefit our local youth such as creating our own music/entertainment festival for younger youth (under 18),” she said.

Ty Bonney was among four students from St Joseph’s Regional College to attend the forum.

“I personally thought it was a good experience for myself to have the opportunity to have my voice heard from other people and to listen to other people’s ideas and concerns,” Ty said.

St Joseph’s Regional College student Hugh Stewart said the forum really inspired him to research more about the community and local leaders, while student Zoe Groth said the opportunity allowed them to voice ideas about their community and to communicate areas needing improvement.

The forum was one of a series of regional consultation sessions for the state government in collaboration with the NSW advocate for children and young people.

Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams said the forum was an opportunity to hear from young people in the community about their priorities and what they envisaged were priorities for the community.

Mrs Williams said people often said young people were the leaders of tomorrow, but in her view, young people were the leaders of today.

“We know how active young people are in our community already,” she said.