Applications are open for the 2022 Regional Youth Taskforce, drawing young people from across regional NSW to have their say on the issues that matter most.

Created in 2019, the taskforce was developed as source of information on the issues affecting young people living regionally, informing the Minister for Regional Youth who can bring the issues to the much bigger table of Parliament. 

Selected when she was just 15, Maddy Jerrett was selected in 2019 as part of the first Regional Youth Taskforce. 

“I’ve always been very opinionated about things that need to be done and I was on the SRC at school always pushing issues and I thought, why not?” said Miss Jerrett.

*Maddy Jerrett (3rd from left) with Minister Mitchel (left), her RYT colleagues and then Deputy Premier John Barilaro (4th from left) in October 2019.

Raised in Coonamble, Maddy took the issues she had faced living rurally – like distance from educational opportunities and the lack of public transport that widened that gap – right to the top.

Meeting four times a year, the taskforce delved into four main issues that regional youth are faced with: education, community, transport, and wellbeing. 

“Around the table everyone would bounce ideas off of each other, and then we would break down into groups and form actions and solutions,” she said. 

The discussions they had in those four sessions went much further than those rooms, informing important decisions that were made that year and that continue to be made. 

One of the most notable realisations of the taskforce that was implemented was a change to the process of licensing upgrades for P-platers. 

While once upon a time upgrading from a P1 license to P2 or a P2 license to a full license required visiting an RMS service centre, the arguments brought forward with the Regional Youth Taskforce led the change to implementing a system that allowed those upgrades to be done online. 

“It can be difficult for rural areas, especially on properties to get into town to change over their license. We talked with the Minister for Transport, and he decided that we would no longer need to come in a Service NSW anymore. That’s something I’ll always remember,” Miss Jerrett said.

“There was also a program for free activities in the Summer holidays that ran in a lot of regional areas,” she said. 

Now 17, Maddy reflects on her time in the Regional Youth Taskforce as a defining moment in my life. 

“I was very shy, but they definitely made me come out of my bubble. I didn’t think I would ever be able to do something like that,” she said.

With applications open for 18 new recruits, she is an avid advocate of the program. 

“It’s a really positive experience all around. WE were exposed to other people’s point of views and different walks of life. It really opens your eyes to the world outside of our small town,” Miss Jerrett said. 

The 2022 Regional Youth Taskforce will be made up of 18 members who reflect the diversity of young people in regional NSW. 

Four opportunities exist for people across the Western Plains to be representatives of the Regional Youth Taskforce, including two from the Orana Region and two from the Far West region.

Members will have their transport, food and accommodation costs covered. Meetings will be scheduled to take place on weekends or in school holidays.

Applications close midnight, Sunday 21 November.