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Towards a national agenda for youth?

George C Patton, Glenn Bowes, Susan M Sawyer, Ross Homel and Fiona J Stanley
Med J Aust 2005; 183 (8): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb07098.x
Published online: 17 October 2005

The lack of youth health policies contrasts strikingly with initiatives around earlier childhood

It’s a decade since a comprehensive health policy framework for Australian children and young people aged 0–24 years was first released.1 The health of young Australians was an ambitious document that sought to place child and adolescent health within a broader context of social development. It proposed a greater integration and coordination of health with other services for the young and their families. Its intent was to promote prevention and positive development rather than treatment alone. The subsequent National Agenda for Early Childhood for children aged 0–5 years embodies many of these principles.2 Similarly, the closely aligned National Public Health Action Plan for Children aged 0–12 years draws on the earlier document.3


  • 1 Centre for Adolescent Health, Parkville, VIC.
  • 2 Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, VIC.
  • 3 Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD.
  • 4 Department of Paediatrics, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.


Correspondence: 

  • 1. Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health. The health of young Australians: a national health policy for children and young people. Canberra: Department of Human Services and Health, 1995. Available at: http://www7.health.gov.au/pubs/ythhlth/cyhpol.htm (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 2. Commonwealth Task Force on Child Development Health and Welfare. Towards the development of a national agenda for early childhood. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2003. Available at: http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/family/early_childhood.htm (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 3. National Public Health Partnership. Healthy children — strengthening promotion and prevention across Australia. Developing a national public health action plan for children 2005–2008. Consultation paper. Melbourne: National Public Health Partnership, 2004. Available at: http://www.nphp.gov.au/workprog/chip/cyhactionplanbg.htm (accessed Sep 2005)
  • 4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia’s young people: their health and wellbeing 2003. Canberra: AIHW, 2003. Available at: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/9569 (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 5. Veit F, Sanci L, Coffey C, et al. Barriers to adolescent health care: family physicians’ perspectives. J Adolesc Health 1996; 18: 156.
  • 6. Youth Mental Health Foundation to be established. Media release CP045/05. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 22 July 2005. Available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2005-cp-pyn045.htm (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 7. Schofield PE, Borland R, Hill DJ, et al. Instability in smoking patterns among school leavers in Victoria, Australia. Tob Control 1998; 7: 149-155.
  • 8. Patton GC, McMorris BJ, Toumbourou JW, et al. Puberty and the onset of substance use and abuse. Pediatrics 2004; 114: e300-e306.
  • 9. Patton GC, Bond L, Butler H, Glover S. Changing schools, changing health? The design and implementation of the Gatehouse Project. J Adolesc Health 2003; 33: 231-239.
  • 10. Loxley W, Toumbourou JW, Stockwell T, et al. The prevention of substance use, risk and harm in Australia: a review of the evidence. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 2004. Available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-publicat-document-metadata-mono_prevention.htm (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 11. Aos S, Phipps P, Barnoski R, Lieb R. The comparative costs and benefits of programs to reduce crime. Version 4.0. Seattle: Washington State Institute for Public Policy, 2001. Available at: http://nicic.org/Library/020074 (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 12. Sanci LA, Coffey C, Veit FCM, et al. Evaluation of an educational intervention for general practitioners in adolescent health care: randomised controlled study. BMJ 2000; 320: 224-230.
  • 13. Pathways to prevention. Developmental and early intervention approaches to crime in Australia. Canberra: National Crime Strategy, Attorney General’s Department, 1999. Available at: http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/ncphome.nsf/Page/Publications (accessed Sep 2005).
  • 14. Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth [website]. Available at: http://www.aracy.org.au/ (accessed Sep 2005).

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