Students raise voices over youth homelessness and incarceration 'crisis'

Leaders of tomorrow tell politicians to get their act together over plight of today's youthPosted Fri 14 Aug 2026 at 7:45amFri 14 Aug 2026 at 7:45amRyan Hayward, 18, from Alice Springs wants governments to listen more to young people. (ABC Alice Springs: Xavier Martin)In short:A year 12 Alice Springs student has told politicians they should listen more to young people before making decisions which impact them.Ryan Hayward has returned from a leadership and advocacy program with a renewed purpose to make positive change in his community.What next?He has encouraged other young people to use their voice and speak up on issues that impact them.An 18-year-old Alice Springs school student is calling on federal and Territory politicians to genuinely listen to young people on the issues that impact them.St Philip's College student Ryan Hayward said he was sick of "knee-jerk reactions" and "pelican politics" from governments, after experiencing snap youth curfews aimed at reducing crime in Alice Springs in previous years."Being here in Alice Springs, I have seen time and time again us getting neglected," he said.Mr Hayward is encouraging other young people to advocate for issues they care about. (ABC Alice Springs: Victoria Ellis)"Come to the schools, come to OLSH (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic College), come to Saints (St Philip's College), go to CSC (Centralian Senior College) and actually talk with the young people there."Listen to what they have to say instead of just flying in and flying out and listening to the people you want to."A focus on solutionsThe vice-captain has recently returned from a Youth Parliament program, where 55 young people from across the commonwealth came together in the Legislative Council of New South Wales over the three days to participate in a debate over a fictional artificial intelligence bill.The program aimed to increase participants' skills in advocacy and leadership.Mr Haywood says youth homelessness in Alice Springs is 11 times the national average. (ABC Alice Springs: Victoria Ellis)Mr Hayward said the experience gave him a renewed purpose and belief in his ability to make a positive change in his community and he knew which issues he wanted to tackle head on."It's definitely youth homelessness and youth incarceration," he said."In Alice Springs, the youth homelessness rate is 11 times the national average.""The average youth incarceration rate nationally is around 2.7 per 10,000 people."In the Northern Territory it is 17 for every 10,000 people, and if that isn't a crisis then I don't know what is."Youth as advocatesMr Hayward was the chair of the 2026 Northern Territory Youth Round Table, participated in the 2025 Northern Territory Youth Parliament and was a part of the Northern Territory delegation to 2025 United Nation's Youth Conference.He said stereotypes that young people were disinterested in politics or did not care about the world around them were ignorant.Leslie Tilbrook says young people are often cast in a negative light. (ABC Alice Springs: Victoria Ellis)St Philip's College principal Leslie Tilbrook agreed."There's been a whole negativity on Alice Springs, which is really disappointing and it has been focused often on young people," she said."I wish we would focus more on these young people that are going above and beyond to make it a better place and not just focus on the things that aren't going right."Mr Hayward encouraged other young people to become advocates."No matter how flung a youth advocacy opportunity seems, get involved with youth advocacy, make your voice heard," he said.