The Mission Australia Youth Survey is the largest annual survey of young Australians of its kind. Now in its 18th year, the Youth Survey aims to identify the values, aspirations and issues of concern to young people. The Youth Survey was developed by Mission Australia to strengthen Mission Australia’s capacity to support and advocate for young Australians in need.

In 2019, 25,126 young Australians aged 15 to 19 years participated in the Youth Survey. Of these, 23,357 participants completed the survey online (93.0%) and 1,769 completed the survey on paper (7.0%).

As well as collecting valuable socio-demographic data, the 2019 Youth Survey sought to capture the views and perspectives of young people on a broad range of issues. Topics covered by the survey include education and employment, perceived barriers to achieving post-school plans, participation in community activities, general wellbeing, values and concerns, preferred sources of support, as well as feelings about the future. New focus questions were added to explore young people’s voice within their community, their experiences of bullying, perceptions of disability support, as well as their housing circumstances.

Each State/Territory summary compares the state-level findings against the national data; contains a breakdown of key data by gender; and, where appropriate, compares 2019 findings with results from previous years. In addition, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander summary compares the responses of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people with those from non-Indigenous respondents.

Recommendations:

• Young people should be supported to remain engaged in education and to transition to further education and employment;
• Investment is required in improved mental health supports for young people with a focus on prevention and early intervention;
• Family supports are required to build cohesion and prevent homelessness;
• Schools need to be resourced to prevent and combat bullying;
• Young people’s voices need to be included when forming evidence-based policies and in the co-design of programs for young people; and
• Policy responses should build on the strengths of and address the challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, including the higher levels of bullying experienced.