Young Thinker Forum

What will happen to what you send us?

Telling us what you think helps us understand what is important to children and young people in the ACT. No matter how you tell us — face-to-face, in a survey, through the Young Thinker Forum or over email or text for example — there are rules about how we use your information.

How will we use what you tell us?

We will use what children and young people tell us in our work in many ways.

• It can help us decide what projects we should do.
• We can use it to help us tell people in power about what children and young people think and what policies and programs they need.
• We can include what children and young people tell us it in our reports and speeches.
• We can give decision makers advice about how to make Canberra better for children and young people.

Will it be confidential?

We will treat what you send us carefully and follow the:

• the Information Privacy Act (2014),
• the Human Rights Commission Act 2005, and
• the Children and Young People Act 2008.

This means that any personal information you give us, like your name, will be kept private and will not be passed to another person or organisation unless you agree or a law requires us to. If we are worried that someone is hurting you, or that you are hurting someone else, we may need to tell someone.

There is more information about your privacy rights and our legal responsibilities, including how you can see what information we have about you and complain if we don’t use it in the right ways. The information is written in a legal way, so you may need help to understand it. You can ask us questions at actkids@act.gov.au.

Will you share what I send you or use my name?

We would like to share what you say, but we will only do this with your permission. We will also need you to tell us how we can contact you if we need to. We don’t think we will need to do this very often but there are some things that we may need to ask you about directly. For example, if you send us an artwork, we may need to contact you to check you are happy for us to display your artwork or take photos of it.

If you give us permission to share what you send us, we will not use your name if you don’t want us to.

We might use your words in an opinion piece and promote this via email and social media. View a previous Young Thinker opinion piece about having their own voice for an example.

If you do an artwork, we might display it on our website or send it (or photos of it) out using email and social media. It would help if you also send in a short statement about your artwork and what it means to you.

If you send through an audio or video recording, and it doesn’t identify you or anyone else in the recording, we may upload it to our website or send it out using emails and social media.

We may use quotes or images you send us in our reports, speeches and submissions to government.

If we publish your material on our website, or send it out using email or social media, then other people might link or share this material.

Can you help me with more personal concerns?

The Young Thinker forum is for you to tell me what you think about community or social issues you are interested in.

If you would like to talk about or need help with a personal issue in your life or if you want to know more about your rights as a child or young person, please contact the ACT Human Rights Commission either at ACTkids@act.gov.au or on (02) 6205 2222 and ask to speak to one of my advocates for children and young people.

You can also talk to an adult you trust or contact one of the following organisations:

Kids Helpline: https://kidshelpline.com.au/ Phone – 1800 55 1800
Beyond blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ Phone – 1300 22 4636
eHeadspace:  www.eheadspace.org.au Phone – 1800 650 890
Headspace: https://headspace.org.au/
Reach out: https://au.reachout.com/

The Young Thinker Rules

1. You must be under 25 years old.
2. You must live, go to school/university, or work in the ACT.
3. If you want what you send us to be shared, then we need your permission. Your name will only be shared or published if you tell us you want it to be.
4. You have the right to be recognised as the person who created your work. Sometimes we may need to contact you to check what you would like us to do with what you have sent us.
5. If you are under 12 years old, you need the permission of a parent or guardian to send us your work. Your parent or guardian does not have to agree with what you say though.
6. We will not share what you send us if it could harm, hurt, or offend other people, or if it discriminates against people.
7. If you send through a video recording, we will not share the video if you or anyone else can be recognised in the recording. For example, if it shows your face or the faces of others.
8. If we have concerns or worries about your safety or wellbeing, or someone else’s safety or wellbeing, we may have to share your information.

Privacy

We will treat what you send us carefully and follow the rules that are in the

• Information Privacy Act (2014),
• the Human Rights Commission Act 2005 and the
• Children and Young People Act 2008.

This means that the personal information you provide to us, like your name or contact details, will be kept private and will not be passed on to another person or organisation unless you agree or a law means we have to.

You can find more information about your privacy rights, including how you can see what information we have about you and complain if we do not use it in the right ways.