Fiona Stanley Annual Forum

On Friday 28th March I attended the Fiona Stanley Annual Forum  and the lecture (this year) was given by Fiona Stanley herself. It was titled "Australian children's wellbeing in 2034: Closing the gap between our aspirations and our effort". Professor Stanley was Australian of the Year in 2003 and continues to advocate for a better start for all Australian children. The lecture was sponsored by ARACY (Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth) and was held at the Department of Education in Canberra. 

 The outline of her lecture is below. Topics that were particularly important to my work were: the priority area of investing in a comprehensive early years system and the need for more evidence-based and prevention focused interventions.

The vision of ARACY's The Nest agenda is as follows:

"Our shared vision for Australia's children and youth (aged 0-24) is an Australia where
All young people are loved and safe, have material basics, are healthy, are learning and participating and have a positive sense of identity and culture" (p.3).