Fairfield City Council Bring It On! Youth Festival

Mr NICK LALICH (Cabramatta) [6.03 p.m.]: More than 8,000 young people came out to Fairfield Showground on Sunday 5 April 2009 to visit Fairfield City Council's Bring It On! Youth Festival, which celebrates National Youth Week. National Youth Week is the largest celebration in Australia of young people aged between 12 and 25 years. The festival, which is held annually, aims to encourage young people across Australia to share ideas, attend live events, have their voices heard on issues of concern to them, showcase their talents, celebrate their contribution to the community, and have fun in a safe environment. Bring It On! is a drug-free and alcohol-free event organised by Fairfield City Council in partnership with local community organisations and youth volunteers. The festival attracts visitors from across south-west Sydney and is a showcase of youth talent and subcultures.

I enjoyed the opportunity this year to wander around the festival with the State member for Smithfield, Ninos Khoshaba, and the Federal member for Blaxland, Jason Clare, and see the different music styles, dancing and art on display. With a growing emphasis on physical activity and teenage obesity, this year the festival featured a sports arena for the first time. The arena offered festival participants a chance to try their hand at sports such as AFL, soccer and cricket. A unique aspect of the festival is the strong youth participation element. Fairfield City Council facilitates a volunteer and training program that enables young people to participate in skills workshops in the lead-up to the festival in areas such as events management, sound and stage set-up, digital storytelling, stagecraft, radio/music control, and occupational health and safety issues.

In the past workshops have been offered in areas such as digital home studio recording, marketing and media, senior first aid and studio tours. These workshops provide hands-on experience for young people to develop their skills in technical production and performance. Workshop participants then go on to apply their new skills by working at the festival. A new partnership was developed in 2009 between Fairfield City Council and Holroyd Youth Services. This partnership included Holroyd Youth Services in-kind contribution to the training of young people in a series of sound and stage set-up workshops. Participants in the workshops had the opportunity to volunteer as stage hands at three different events across western Sydney between January and April 2009, including the Bring It On! Youth Festival.

The Bring It On! Youth Festival is a fantastic testament to the young talent that can be found in south-west Sydney, particularly in areas such as Fairfield, Liverpool, Blacktown, Holroyd and Parramatta. I commend the hard work put into the festival by Fairfield City Council and a great group of organisations, such as, Community First Step, Parks Community Network Loud! Tribe, Fairfield Police, Holroyd Youth Services, Cabramatta Community Centre, Powerhouse Youth Theatre, Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre, Cricket New South Wales, Family Planning New South Wales, AFL Sports, Baseball New South Wales, Mission Australia Reconnect, Fairvale High School, Sydney South West Area Health Service, Fairfield and Liverpool Youth Health Team, Looze Control, PCYC Cabramatta, Phrisk Management Powerlift Australia, UP Recordz and Rumble Pictures. I want to acknowledge the official sponsors of the Bring It On! Youth Festival: Stockland Wetherill Park, Telstra, Smithfield RSL, Cabravale Diggers Club, Bavas Music, Yamaha and Fairfield Markets. Without their support this event would not have been as successful. I thank and congratulate all those who participated.

Mrs BARBARA PERRY (Auburn—Minister for Local Government, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Mental Health)) [6.08 p.m.]: I commend the member for Cabramatta for speaking about an important part of our community—that is, young people and the celebration of young people. I also commend Fairfield City Council for the Bring It On! Youth Festival, and for celebrating and valuing its young people. The council has forged strong partnerships in the community with non-government and government organisations, including Holroyd City Council. It is pleasing to see councils working in partnership with their communities towards better outcomes.

The attendance of 8,000 young people at a festival is a remarkable achievement and a testament to all the organisations and council staff who put in so much effort to make this event a success. Young people are not just our future; they are part of the here and now and have a great deal to contribute. This festival recognises that fact. It is wonderful to hear about such outstanding success and achievement. I am sure that the young people who attended got a lot from the skill development programs and the workshops and were able to share ideas with others and attend other events. It sounds as though the festival was a celebration of young people, and that is as it should be.