General News
27 March, 2026
Local youth voices sought
LOCAL youth are being encouraged to take part in Australia’s largest youth survey.
Mission Australia has been conducting the survey for 25 years and wants to ensure that young people aged 14-19 share their views.
Last year, young Queenslanders aged 14-19 considered the cost of living (63%), mental health (29%) and housing and homelessness (27%) to be the top issues in Australia.
This year’s survey will ask some new questions, including. ‘What’s one thing that could be changed in your neighbourhood to make your life better?’, and young people’s opinions on barriers to participating in community events and the social media ban.
Mission Australia Queensland state director Stephen Vines said the Youth Survey had provided crucial insights into what young people were thinking and feeling for the past 25 years.
“In that time, we’ve had more than 500,000 surveys completed and while fashion trends might have come full circle, young people’s responses have not,” he said.
“In more recent years, we’ve seen young people primarily trend away from worrying about the environment to focusing more on housing and cost of living.”
Results of the survey will be published in November and shared with government, non-government organisations, schools and the public.
Mr Vines urged schools, community groups, local councils and families to spread the word and encourage young people to participate in Youth Survey 2026.
Youth Survey 2026 is open until August 14 and takes about 20 minutes to complete.
Respondents can complete the survey online at www.missionaustralia.com.au/youthsurvey
