'It is just my absolute passion': Prestigious new role for youth worker

Out of 900 applications, Miss Wilks was announced by Minister for Early Childhood Education and Youth Dr Anne Aly as one of seven new people on the 15-member national Australian Youth Advisory Committee.

The Beyond the Bell projects coordinator said she was still stunned by the news.

"It is just my absolute passion. It's what I've done every day for the last three years," she said.

The role will mean travelling regularly to Canberra and working alongside the minister to provide direct advice on government policies and programs that impact young people.

It was while living in Alice Springs her passion for working with young people came to the fore.

Miss Wilks had left school in year nine to become a chef, but when she moved to Alice Springs she saw first hand the challenges young people in the community faced.

"It just sparked something in me," she said.

After suffering with Ross River Fever, she moved back to the south-west and decided to go back to study youth work - juggling assignments alongside her full-time job in the kitchen.

In 2019, she volunteered with Beyond the Bell as part of the youth conversations report, and later got a job with the organisation.

She also spent two-and-half years working in youth residential care.

"I only just recently gave that up. I was working there on the weekends and doing Beyond the Bell full-time," she said.

With her new government committee role, Miss Wilks said she wanted to ensure regional and rural communities were represented and to bring about systematic change.

"I live out in Koroit so I'm all too familiar with the limited or lack of services that we have down in this area," she said.

Miss Wilks said she had regularly observed tokenism directed towards involving young people.

"We need to recognise that young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow but the leaders of today," she said.

"They are amazing. They come up with their own solutions, out-of-the-box thinking. They deserve a genuine seat at the table."

Young people were "so switched on", she said.

But they also got the "bad end of the stick" when it came to the issues that were actually affecting everyone such as housing and transport, Miss Wilks said.

What's going on for young people in school post-COVID-19 was also still very relevant in their lives.

"We've all moved on somewhat but they definitely haven't," she said.

Social and emotional connection was also lacking.

"That's another issue that we face specifically in this region because of limited access to public transport," she said.

Miss Wilks also sits on the National Youth Employment Body run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence which informs government.