Vulnerable

Exploring “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) Approach - Question 1 and 2

Policy/Strategy/Action documents analysed:

Darwin Youth Action Plan 2019
Palmerston Youth Action Plan 2019 -2020
Palmerston Youth Action Plan 2019-2020 Review
Palmerston Youth Action Plan 2022 - 2024
City of Darwin Youth Strategy 2022 - 2026

What's the ‘problem’ represented to be in a specific policy or policy proposal?

What presuppositions or assumptions underpin this representation of the ‘problem’?

In simple it is young people (12 -25), more complicatedly it is young people’s place in/on/within Larrakia Country. Realising this made me wonder - are we only ever writing policy to solve or change something. Do we write it to celebrate, capture or highlight abundance or does it only exist when there is a deficit or a tension.

Particularly on reading the Darwin Youth Action Plan and in places in the City of Darwin Youth Strategy, which I wrote. There is also a particular focus on ‘vulnerable’ young people. On reading definitions of vulnerable I settled on this definition as I felt it best capture the intention of the word in the above documents. Vulnerable people means those people or a community who are susceptible to risks arising from various physical, social, economic and environmental factors.

In most cases I would infer based on my experience that these vulnerable young people are Indigenous and that they are vulnerable due to intergenerational systemic oppression and that their risks factors would also include cultural and political, as well as physical, social, economic and environmental. I would be interested to discuss the word vulnerable with young people and Larrakia people to understand how they define the word and where they see the risk. I would also infer that ‘vulnerable’ is a soft way to approach young people who are participating in ‘anti-social behaviour’ or are ‘homeless’ - other terms to unpack.

Within the Palmerston Action Plans vulnerable is not mentioned, rather there is a focus on the needs of the young person. In a sense it places the vulnerability on the youth sector and the community at large rather than as a descriptor for young people.

Palmerston Action Plans and the City of Darwin Youth Strategy were written for a young person to read, they outlined the key role they played in the development of the document and the ongoing nature of the engagement (another word to be unpacked) . The tone or voice of the Darwin Youth Action Plan was for ‘adults’ - youth services, government, perhaps community members?

The image above is from a project in partnership with the City of Darwin during Youth Week. I partnered with a young curator Jens Cheung to produce a projection event for one night. This project raised an array of concerns, questions and paperwork around public space. Security guards were present, traffic control plans were undertaken, businesses close by were consulted. Over the evening adults sleeping rough came in for food, young people who regular inhabited the space did not attend but threw things at cars close by. I think this needs a case study!