Y Canberra Region Youth Parliament

25 young people to be part of Y Canberra Region’s Youth Parliament Program for the ACT in 2026

The Y Canberra Region young team ⭐ are beyond thrilled to 📢 announce a Canberra Youth Parliament has received funding from the Snow Foundation and Hands Across Canberra for the very first time!

The 🏛️ Y Youth Parliament is a 🌏 flagship civics and leadership 📚 program giving 25 young people the opportunity to participate in Canberra’s first Y Youth Parliament held on the floor of the ACT’s Legislative Assembly.

The Y Australia across Australia has decades of experience in running Youth Parliament programs annually, ✨ engaging young people in 🗳️democracy and politics.

This has been a hard-won battle in gaining funding for this project, and we’re so 🙏 grateful to the Snow Foundation and Hands Across Canberra for making this democracy and civics program a reality, in close partnership with the Office of the Legislative Assembly Education team.

From L to R: Georgina Byron – CEO, Snow Foundation; Maddie Roberts – Y Canberra Region, YRG member; Patrick Knight – Y Canberra Region, YRG member and World YMCA Change Agent Cohort 6.0; Kirsty Dixon – CEO, Y Canberra Region; Carolyn Ludovici – Place Manager, Snow Foundation; Genevieve Jacobs – CEO of Hands Across Canberra; Absent– Kobi Stray, Y Canberra Region, YRG Chair (chief architect of YP Canberra application)

To the young people of Canberra – The Y Australia and The Y Canberra Region are excited to create a space for your voices to be heard and valued in the ‘halls of Parliament’ and on the floor of the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2026.

The Y Youth Parliament program will be launched in October 2025 as we recruit our 25 Y MLAs with a culmination of a Youth Parliament to be held in July 2026.

People aged 16 to 25 years can apply to be in the Y Canberra Youth Parliament here.

For more details: contact the Y Canberra Region’s CEO Kirsty Dixon on yp.canberra@ymca.org.au