Amber was invited back for a second Inspiring Australians Student Summit, this time at Woodville High School, joining history-making astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg and Dr Karl, Australia's doctor of curiosity, as one of three keynote speakers for the day. Over 600 students from nine visiting schools came together for a morning built around staying curious, asking questions, embracing resilience, and dreaming boldly about their futures. Amber brought the youth voice and comm

Amber has been invited by the Executive Director of National Curriculum Services to deliver a keynote address at the Official Dinner of the 2026 National Schools Constitutional Convention, to be held at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra on 25 March 2026. The NSCC began as an initiative of the Constitutional Centenary Federation in 1995 and brings together 120 students from across all school sectors to engage directly with complex constitutional questions. The 2

Amber served as MC for ReachOut Australia's two-day Youth Advocates and Ambassadors Workshop, held at ReachOut's Sydney office. The workshop brought together ReachOut's cohort of young advocates and ambassadors to learn more about what is happening across the organisation, explore what is next for their advocacy work, and connect with each other in person. Amber held the room across both days as MC, creating the conditions for honest, respectful exchange in a group that has b

During National Child Protection Week, SAYF stood alongside Professor Leah Bromfield and Charlie Jackson OAM to present a Call for Change in protecting children. SAYF members delivered speeches that highlighted stories of resilience, justice, and the urgent need for community-led reform in how we think about and act on child safety.

In collaboration with Flinders University, SAYF's 14 to 18 branch was engaged to provide structured feedback on a new app adaptation of Metacognitive Training for Eating Disorders. Members were given the app to work through and facilitated an internal session exploring what worked, what did not land, what felt inaccessible, and what would genuinely reach young people experiencing eating disorders. This is youth voice built into the design of a health tool, not bolted on after

SAYF presented to the Department for Education Executive Committee on Curriculum and Learning, advocating for the integration of life skills education into the school curriculum. Our members made the case for a future where young people graduate equipped with real-world knowledge including financial literacy, navigating relationships, understanding government systems, and knowing their rights.

Amber was one of three keynote speakers at the Inspiring Australians Student Summit at Riverbanks College, hosted by the Australia Day Council of South Australia. Over 400 students heard from Sam Bloom, World Para Surfing champion and author, His Excellency Dr Richard Harris SC OAM, Governor's Deputy and Thai cave rescue diver, and Amber as the 2025 SA Young Australian of the Year. Together they shared lessons on resilience, trust, teamwork, and the power of youth voice. Ambe

Over three days, SAYF members participated as facilitators for interactive sessions with Year 10 students from across South Australia, exploring what active citizenship looks like in practice. Our founding director Amber delivered the keynote, sparking conversations on leadership, participation, and what it means to show up for your community as a young person.

The City of Onkaparinga engaged SAYF to help them understand how to genuinely reach young people when developing their life skills workshop program. Rather than the council guessing what young people want to learn, they came to SAYF. We received their questions, facilitated an internal session with members to explore what life skills young people actually want and need, how they want to access them, and what would make them show up. A written summary of insights and recommend

Amber was invited to join a panel discussion hosted by Ending Loneliness Together exploring the WHO Commission on Social Connection's landmark report on loneliness and its global significance. The panel featured remarks from The Honourable Ralph Regenvanu, WHO Commissioner on Social Connection, and The Honourable Ged Kearney MP, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Prevention of Family Violence, alongside WHO Technical Advisory Group members Associate Professor Michelle

SAYF members joined the Committee for Adelaide's Listening Forum to share young people's priorities across a range of issues including loneliness, housing, climate, and transport. We made the case that real progress at a city level starts with youth inclusion at every level of decision-making, not just in dedicated youth spaces.

Since July 2025, Amber has been serving as Co-Lead for ReachOut Australia in the development of the organisation's first-ever Youth Engagement Framework. ReachOut is one of Australia's largest national mental health support services, and this framework marks a milestone for the organisation, uniting all areas of ReachOut around a shared set of principles for safe, meaningful, and impactful youth engagement. Amber's role centres on listening and bringing together diverse voice

SA Health approached SAYF to gather young people's perspectives on a series of questions related to their public health planning work. SAYF received the brief, designed the facilitation, and ran the session internally with members across relevant focus areas including mental health, domestic violence education, and community safety. A structured report was delivered back to SA Health capturing key themes, direct member perspectives, and priority recommendations. This engageme

Amber and Sienna represented SAYF as the only young people in the room, advocating for youth-informed strategies on mental health, domestic violence education, and community safety. Their contributions were personally recognised by Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier, reinforcing the value and necessity of embedding youth perspectives into public health policy.

Amber was personally invited by the General Manager of Consumer Compliance Strategies within the Consumer Fair Trading division of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to participate as a panellist at the 2025 ACCC National Consumer Congress, held in Melbourne on 27 June 2025. The Congress is the ACCC's flagship annual event, bringing together consumer groups, community organisations, experts, and government to discuss key issues impacting consumers and strategi

At Investigator College, 2 SAYF members facilitated a workshop empowering young people to form their own youth-led committees for climate action. Participants explored what local leadership looks like in practice and left with concrete tools to organise in their own communities. It was one of the clearest examples of what happens when young people are given a real room and a real facilitator.

Three SAYF members joined the Office for Women's roundtable on eSafety and image-based abuse, sharing youth perspectives on one of the most pressing safety issues facing young people today. We engaged directly with Minister Katrine Hildyard and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant to identify prevention strategies and shape policy change.

Amber was invited to speak at the 2025 Volunteering SA/NT Conference, sharing insights on engaging young people in volunteering and reflecting on what it means to build and lead the South Australian Youth Forum as a fully youth-led and, at the time, volunteer-powered organisation. She shared the stage with inspiring leaders from across the volunteering sector. The talk explored the realities of youth-led community work, what makes young people want to show up, and how organis

SAYF members took the stage alongside Dr Ben Lohmeyer at the Department for Education's Wellbeing Leaders' Summit, speaking to hundreds of educators about the importance of authentic youth voice in wellbeing policy. Young speakers shared lived experiences of school, inspiring educators to reimagine what student leadership and wellbeing support can actually look like.

Representing youth voices at the Department for Infrastructure and Transport Executive Roundtable, SAYF advocated for accessible, safe, and sustainable public transport across South Australia. Our team contributed directly to shaping the state's 30-year transport strategy, ensuring that young people's priorities are embedded in long-term planning from the outset.

At City of Salisbury's Roar Youth Summit, SAYF facilitated a workshop on health equity, exploring young people's access to fair health outcomes across South Australia. Participants shared insights on how limited discussions about equity in schools affect trust and wellbeing. SAYF synthesised these perspectives and shared them directly with the City of Salisbury to inform youth-driven solutions and policy action.

At the Commissioner for Children and Young People x Youth Affairs Council SA Youth Impact Summit, SAYF hosted a stall and contributed to a powerful panel discussion. Our founder, Amber, joined young changemakers from across the state to exchange ideas, collaborate with sector leaders, and celebrate the power of youth-led advocacy in South Australia.

The Cancer Council engaged SAYF's 18 to 24 branch to provide feedback on their HPV campaign and explore how it could be extended to better reach young people. SAYF received a set of questions from the Cancer Council, designed a facilitated workshop around them, and ran the session internally with members. The outputs were synthesised into a detailed written summary covering what resonated, what missed the mark, and clear recommendations for how the campaign could be strengthe

3 SAYF members spent a day across Parndana and Kingscote campuses speaking to over 400 young people in Years 7 to 12 about youth advocacy, resilience, and leadership. The visit marked the beginning of something significant for Kangaroo Island, building the connections and foundations for what is now the established Kangaroo Island Youth Movement.

Amber was invited to speak at the South Australian Business Chamber's International Women's Day Business Luncheon, held in partnership with the Australia Day Council of South Australia. She shared the stage with keynote speaker Professor Leah Bromfield, 2025 Australian of the Year for South Australia, and contributed to panel discussions on women in leadership. Amber spoke about SAYF's work in spaces of gender equality including coercive control, period justice, and gender eq

Amber delivered a keynote at the Youth Leadership Academy Australia's City One National Tour stop in Adelaide, speaking to over 1,000 students from 90 schools across two days, with some travelling from as far as Port Lincoln and Mildura. The event was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre and brought together primary and secondary school students around themes of leadership, growth, and connection. Amber shared her story and her work with the South Australian Youth Forum, ma

SAYF hosted a stall at the City of Onkaparinga's Eco Collective, sharing the organisation's work and impact with community members from across the region. It was a genuine opportunity to connect local sustainability action with youth voice and civic participation, and to show what SAYF looks like in action outside of a formal workshop setting.

Since January 2025, Amber has been working as a contracted Co-Lead to establish the Youth Voice Initiative at the Specialised Assistance School for Youth. Working alongside passionate students and dedicated staff, this role involves building a student-led committee from the ground up, one that identifies concerns, highlights gaps, and explores opportunities for improvement within the school. This is Stream Two in practice: an individual contract, brokered through Amber's exis

SAYF's 14 to 18 branch members serve on the Oversight Committee for Flinders University's Trauma Aware School Village project, a national multi-year research initiative exploring how trauma-informed approaches can be embedded across entire school communities rather than applied only at the individual student level. The project operates across multiple sites and brings together researchers, educators, school leaders, and community members to co-design and evaluate a whole-of-s

A group of SAYF members were invited to join Natasha Stott Despoja, Commissioner for the Royal Commission into Family, Sexual and Domestic Violence, for a one-off workshop session facilitated alongside the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly. Members came to the table to share their perspectives, stories, and views on family, sexual, and domestic violence as young people with lived experience of the issues the Royal Commission was examining. It was not

Amber was invited to speak as a young voice at the Technology and Wellbeing Roundtable, co-hosted by the Telstra Foundation and ReachOut Australia. The event brought together cross-sector leaders to explore the role that data, policy, and youth participation play in creating a better digital world for children and young people. Alongside keynote speaker Professor Sonia Livingstone from the Digital Futures for Children Centre, Amber represented the South Australian Youth Forum

SAYF was engaged by the Department of Human Services to contribute to the design of the See the Signs campaign. Members were given campaign materials and design questions and facilitated an internal session exploring what worked, what did not, what felt authentic, and what would actually land with young people. The session generated specific, usable feedback on messaging, visuals, and accessibility that was synthesised and delivered back to DHS as a formal recommendations doc

Since January 2023, Amber has served as a Youth Advisor on the SA Power Networks Vulnerable Consumers Advisory Group, representing the needs and perspectives of young people within the group. In this ongoing role she collaborates with senior members and fellow board representatives to advocate for the inclusion of youth voices in energy policy and decision-making. The group reviews community feedback, shapes policy recommendations, and adjusts strategies to ensure inclusivity

Over three years, SAYF has been embedded as co-designers, peer researchers, data analysers, and contributors to the written outputs of Flinders University's longitudinal study on loneliness among young people. This is not a one-off consultation. SAYF members have been present across every stage of the research, from shaping the questions to leading focus groups to contributing to the analysis that became our first peer-reviewed academic paper on the affective economics of lon

From January 2022 to December 2023, Amber served as Youth Representative on the SA Power Networks Community Advisory Board, playing a central role in advocating for the needs and concerns of young people within the community. Her responsibilities included engaging with diverse stakeholders to ensure that the voices of vulnerable consumers were represented in decision-making processes, particularly during the Regulatory Reset for 2025 to 2030. This role demonstrated early that