Farewell of Youth Ambassadors, Intake 25

Canberra

Your Excellencies, diplomatic representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for coming along to help us farewell our youth ambassadors.

The group here tonight is off on a journey that may well have a significant bearing on the way they live the rest of their lives.

I have heard many, many stories of youth ambassadors who have become so attached to the country they were placed in, they continue their association with the country, the workplace and the contacts long after their placement ends.

As a young academic and lawyer I myself made a fateful decision to spend three years of my life working in PNG including as dean of the Law School at the University of Papua New Guinea.

This experience not only helped to shape my world view, but in the almost thirty years since - the people, institutions and region have continued to be part of my personal and professional life.

I am aware of one youth ambassador's story who we sent to Tonga to work as a physiotherapist with staff in centres for people with disability.

She decided a year wasn't enough so she became a volunteer with another Australian volunteer agency and ended up staying in Tonga for a few more years.

A second youth ambassador in the same intake deferred her law studies when she returned to Canberra to do an honours thesis in Tongan literature.

There must've been something particular about Tonga! However I do know there are plenty of other similar examples from other countries.

Stories like this are inspiring because establishing stronger personal and professional links with countries in our region is one of the main aims of the youth ambassador program.

Australians want to - and need to - get to know our neighbours better. This program is a great way of doing that for young Australians with an interest in development.

This is the 25th group of youth ambassadors we have sent overseas - this comes to a total of over 2800 people working in an enormous variety of placements in the Asia-Pacific region.

I have every confidence that you are all as talented as your predecessors.

You as a group are going into a wide range of placements. Some will be what you expected and others will be a bit different once you get on the ground.

You will require flexibility, strength, enthusiasm and sometimes perhaps patience.

But whatever the circumstances, celebrate the differences between Australia and your new country.

This is a wonderful opportunity to live in a different culture and be exposed to other ways of doing things and other thinking.

While you are in your placements, the ordinary everyday things you do will make you more comfortable in the culture and with the values of your host community.

The world needs people who are able to cross cultures with ease.

This is crucial as our nations become more and more interdependent.

As you will appreciate, we face issues that are extraordinarily complex and don't recognise territorial boundaries - climate change and pandemics being two such examples.

These challenges can't be dealt with by one country alone.

Teams of specialists from around the world need to collaborate and co- operate to solve these common problems.

These specialists have different backgrounds, different languages and different ways of approaching a problem.

The more attuned we are to our differences and the more practised we are at working together, the better placed we will be to find solutions to these challenges.

As the Minister, Stephen Smith and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan and I travel around the region, we are frequently congratulated on the calibre of our volunteers.

We are proud of the work you do and the good name you give Australia and Australians.

Some of you really find yourselves in amazing locations.

One youth ambassador last year worked on an ecotourism project, helping women in Vanuatu's spectacular Champagne Bay to expand the range of goods they sell to tourists on cruise ships.

You won't all find yourselves in such settings but I am sure there will be plenty of wonderful cultural experiences, interesting work challenges and inspiring people to capture your imagination and motivate you throughout your time as a youth ambassador.

Your varied placements align with the priorities of Australia's aid program and are linked in some way to the areas targeted in the Millennium Development Goals.

For instance amongst you there are people who have assignments working on food security in Bangladesh, child poverty in Nepal and teacher training and education in Indonesia.

And particularly close to my interests are the 41 youth ambassadors who will work in 6 of our neighbouring Pacific Island countries.

As Bob McMullan said last week, the Australian Government is now even more determined to stick to its commitment to achieving the MDGs. As part of this, the Government has underlined its commitment to increase Australia's Official Development Assistance to 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income by 2015-16.

Our commitment is important because many developing countries in our region - and beyond - are feeling the fallout of the global recession.

Many economies are shrinking and the gains made towards the MDGs are now threatened.

People who lived in poverty before the start of the global recession are now likely to be living in deeper poverty.

Families may not be receiving the remittances they depend on. A girl who loses a job in a garment factory might end up unable to feed her children. Or a young man might find himself working illegally in another country for a pittance.

These are not good scenarios but they underscore just how important it is for the MDGs to be achieved and for extreme poverty to be reduced.

Before I finish I'd like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of the Australian partner organisations and the countries that receive Australian youth ambassadors.

I am aware that representatives of some partner organisations are here to day and I thank them for their contribution to the success of this program.

I'd also like to thank the diplomatic representatives here today from the 14 countries that are receiving youth ambassadors in this intake.

The experience of past youth ambassadors shows that they learn as much from their experience as the local counterparts with whom they share their skills and knowledge. So a heartfelt thanks to you also for enriching the lives of young Australians.

In conclusion, as part of the aid program, you as Australian Youth Ambassadors will be making your own particular contribution to poverty reduction.

You are at the start of a big learning curve. There will be difficult moments which may include times of self doubt and homesickness.

But I have confidence that you all have the skills to deal with these and make the most of your time away.

Listen and learn, and most importantly, take advantage of the opportunity that this experience will afford you.

I wish you all the best for the months ahead.

Thank you.

[end]

Media inquiries: Mr Kerr's office - 02 6277 4991