ABSTRACT
In an environment where youth unemployment was high and school retention and university attendance were low the first Hawke ministry established a department to tackle youth affairs as well as education. To understand issues around rural youth and youth policy in regional Australia it is helpful to view them through the context of the history of rural and regional Australia and the times in which these issues have arisen. In Australia, colonial administrations and governments after federation have sought to manage underprivileged, uncared-for and neglected youth. This chapter provides an overview of schemes and programmes affecting youth that administrations and governments of Australia have introduced since white-settlement and it was argued that these schemes originated to deal with problem youth and youth problems, and as such did not define youth by geographical location. Thus, young people need to be equipped to make decisions about their life-trajectory and have the resources.
