About them, without them? figures of youth in Australian policy 2014-2021

This paper considers the multiple and contradictory depictions of young people in youth policy and reflects on how youth engagement is constructed in Australian Federal and State policy. In this journal, researchers have been challenged to critically reflect on 'figures of youth' (Threadgold, 2020) and we take up this challenge and consider how and why 'figures of youth' are deployed in Australian youth policy. Drawing on an environmental scan of youth policy documents published between 2014-2021, we analyse the ways young people's voices are positioned to legitimate policy claims about what is required to help young people in Australia across multiple domains. Despite the apparent agreement among policy-makers that youth consultation is important in the policy development process, our scan points to a wide variety of interpretations of what 'youth voice' might look like, how young people participate, and how their contributions are actually utilised. We argue that the persistence and frequent emergence of particular 'figures of youth' throughout Australian youth policy reflects the endurance of adult-centric interpretations of youth, and the partial and superficial procedures that claim to engage with young people, but which ultimately privilege the interests of other agendas.