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This video player contains 5 video clips, Communities, Community issues, Plan action, Implement plan and Evaluate actions. Watch the video clips and return to the main page to take action.
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Chrystal: My name is Chrystal Osborne, I'm from South Australia.
Lauren: My name is Lauren and I live in Lismore here.
Zorina: I'm Zorina Cross and I'm the president of the student association at Ballina Campus, I'm a CGVE student, which is year 10.
Chrystal: I left school when I was 15, went to the City and went straight into work. I've done a whole 180 from drugs and gone back to school - Lismore has given me an opportunity because it's a small community town. If I don't have my CGVE I'm just going to become a checkout chick for the rest of my life and I don't want to be a checkout chick, because I've got a daughter.
Lauren: Community to me is basically about a group of people who live in an area that share something in common and have similar interests. Lismore is like that, it's a very alternative area. Lismore is extremely community based, because it's so little and it's a very country town, and people are just very responsive around here, you say hi to someone and they say 'hi' back.
Chrystal: You have a lot of different groups. You know, you've got your hippies, you've got workers, you've got schools, you know a lot of uni students.
Lauren: There are a lot of different people here, but there are a lot of people who have the same interests, which brings it out as a close community.
Zorina: There are all different parts in the community. There are people who are into sport and that's their community and then the Student Association is a community in TAFE, and the TAFE in general is a community. The Student Association makes life better for all the students at the campus. So everyone gets to have their say on what they would like to see improved in the area. Yeah, that is the great thing about the Student Association is your right to actually fit in there and have your opinion heard, and make things happen that you think are important. I am actually the President of the Student Association and I'd like to get a couple of people's opinions on what we should be doing, what is needed to be done around here. Being the President of the Student Association, I have to make sure that I attend all the meetings, and make sure that I take everyone's comments seriously and take them to the Board. We have to check the budget at the end of each meeting and make sure we are going on the right track. If we want to improve something on the TAFE campus, it costs money and so we check the budget every time. The budget actually comes from people joining up and paying the $20 fee to become a member of the Student Association, but they get heaps of benefits. We also get money from the Vending machines that we have established here. The profits comes into the Student Association and then we can buy other things for the students here at TAFE. We have a guy who made up posters, to try and influence people into becoming Student Association members and that makes money for the budget.
Lauren: In Lismore here we have a very alternative community. We have Aboriginal people, white people, Chinese people, Asians, which is really good, because it helps us be not a racist community.
Zorina: That is what I see as the community, people who just come together and have things in common and work together for a goal.
Lauren: So the community is basically about people living in the same area, they share interests in common, they are able to group together and to do something together, like we have the lantern parade and stuff like that, and a lot of the town comes together, and even if it is just for one short night we are all friends, and that is basically what a community is to me. Music
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Lauren: Over 100 people applied for the course we are doing and only ten people got accepted, that's just ridiculous. There are so many other people who could be getting schooled now and taught their year 10 so they can get jobs.
Chrystal: They go back to drugs.
Lauren: Yes, and as soon as you fall into that drug trap, you start getting depressed.
Chrystal: Not hanging out with your family.
Lauren: Yes, and all you do is wait for your next hit type of thing.
Chrystal: There are no concerts.
Lauren: There is nothing in Lismore, they don't have anything.
Chrystal: Like functions for youth and you have your skate park and that's about it. Then you have your movies and theatres here as well.
Lauren: The first major issue would be boredom, because all these other little things just lead off boredom.
Chrystal: And then they go off and do drugs.
Lauren: Yes, things like boredom and drugs and alcohol they sort of go into the category of what the government can do, but what we can do ---
Chrystal: Is just start off from day dot from the boredom.
Lauren: Yes to help them with their boredom.
Chrystal: Yes to help get them motivated and achieving something that can turn into a long-term goal, so that they would be able to be a professional boxer and maybe be able to play for Australia - but they need to get something and they need to get into sport to stop the boredom and to give them some kind of goal.
Lauren: There are a fair few community issues around here, one of them is mainly boredom with the youth and I would say going down the list there would be violence, crime, drugs and alcohol, no employment and housing would be a really big problem in Lismore - there are not too many problems that us ourselves can deal with - it's more up to the government to deal with them, problems like employment and housing, but there are some things that could personally be dealt with people in the community. It would be stuff like dealing with boredom with the youth, finding ways to direct their boredom and finding solutions for how they could better themselves, as opposed to getting themselves stuck in these ruts and not being able to get out of them for years and years on end.
Zorina: Yes, we made up surveys to see what people want from the Student Association and what we could do to make it a better lifestyle around the campus. What do you need done around here, what is bothering you?
Student: One of the first things I noticed when I started coming here was that we need a photocopier.
Zorina: Yes a photocopier I think that is pretty standard I think.
Student: Yes, pretty basic.
Zorina: Yes pretty basic for a TAFE. So the surveys were handed out over lunchtime, and we took around the pieces of paper with the surveys and pencils and got people to fill it out and got people to say what they want from the association.
Student: They have quite a lot of computers, but not enough books and journal articles and things.
Student: Yeah social issue magazines. Music
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Lauren: Being an active citizen in the community, means that you involve yourself in the community things like Clean up Day, being a part of it - like there are a lot of things you can do around here, like being a volunteer - they have things like a lot of Lifeline, Salvation Army, Refuges that you can be involved in.
Zorina: Well being an active citizen is actually like contributing to your community, getting involved. So I get involved in the Student Association and make life better for everyone involved around including myself.
Lauren: I suppose that being an active citizen, would mean that you actually have to show that you are trying to do something for your community, trying to better your community. We can deal with the boredom and directing that, and with the boredom comes crime and violence and we can direct the violence like somewhere else, and like we can direct their anger somewhere else, as opposed to them just smashing someone's stuff up.
Chrystal: Like going into boxing or sport or something, to be able to help them, so that then they've got something to do.
Lauren: We could probably create a petition or something like that. Like a petition to get the youth to get them into the community, and to get them into sporting or something like that, and we need something that is free.
Chrystal: So I think for the youth to get into boxing.
Lauren: Yes, and we basically need to get into places that will basically help us to help the youth, like the PCYC and things like that. They also provide a way out for these youth. Like if you get one youth in an entire group of ten saying 'I want to improve my lifestyle' and then the next one goes, 'Oh well he's doing it, I can too, I am going to improve my lifestyle', and then it goes around in a circle.
Chrystal: Yes, so I guess it would just all come down to how our actions would go about talking to the PCYC and talking with them and seeing what they could offer for the youth of Lismore.
Zorina: The Vending Machine is a real issue here at Ballina TAFE - I have people complaining constantly and I find it's frustrating myself, when I go there and get an old stale drink out of it - we want to get a new one and I'm going to address that at the meeting with Jane, the Student Association Officer, she will be able to deal with that and she will make the phone calls that need to be made and she will organise a new machine hopefully. A few other students are going to be there, so they will have input as well. Music
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Lauren: Hello my name is Lauren.
Mark: G'day Lauren, Mark Gregg. Music
Lauren: The reason I've basically come here, is we are trying to find a solution for the youth at the moment to get them out of crimes and violence and drugs and alcohol and stuff and directing their aggression elsewhere. They seem to be going and destroying stuff in Lismore, Alstonville and stuff like that, and they need somewhere where they can go and address their anger, whilst being supervised and are able to do something that they enjoy. We are thinking of having like an open day, just one open day where we get people in to the club and sort of just show them what this place has to offer.
Mark: I think open days are a great idea. We have run them in the past, but I think it's something we need to publicise a bit more, and I think the message would be a lot stronger, if we got some younger people going out there and talking about what we do here at the club.
Lauren: Like I only thought that the PCYC only had boxing, but now coming here I see they have judo and gymnastics, and we could even get to a wider range of youth and be able to get them in, because some people were like 'I'm not really interested in boxing, but I like gymnastics', so yeah, I think that would really help and maybe create flyers and get the younger people out there handing it out to youth.
Mark: That's a great idea. Music
Zorina: Now from the students' suggestion box, we got a few complaints about the current vending machine and how it's basically old and dodgy and it's taking peoples' money, not giving refunds and there have been some out of date products coming out of there.
TAFE Officer: The other campuses put a new one in, it's by a local guy, it will supply us with soft drinks, juices, milks, waters, it's using 75% less electricity these days. What do you guys reckon? Would you second it? Let's pass that and I'll get the ball rolling.
Zorina: Another problem that has come to my attention - photocopier, we don't actually have one in the library and that's pretty well just a necessity at a TAFE I think.
TAFE Officer: This has been an ongoing issue at the other small campus in the area has the same problems. It's a really hard one and we've bought it up before with management. They took the one out because it just keeps eating up the resources in maintenance, okay. We don't have the funding to buy a new one.
Zorina: Well then is there any way we can actually get the TAFE campus office to help us?
TAFE Officer: What we can do is get petitions going, canvas our teachers, get them to back us, bring it up at site meetings, petitions, we get organised on campus.
Zorina: I think that would even be great for teachers, because teachers don't want to - because they are actually doing a job, they don't want to go 'Oh yeah, I'll go and photocopy this for you'. If teachers let it be known that they are going to do that all the time, it will just become a hassle for them - so I reckon they will be in for it as well, they will sign the petition, they will agree with us. Music
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Zorina: Everything has worked out really well. We've got the vending machine and that has worked out to be great, we are getting some money from it, everyone enjoys using it and we've got some great new products there.
Lauren: After speaking to Mark at the PCYC we have come to some great conclusions with it.
Zorina: Is there any way we can actually get the TAFE campus office to help us? The photocopying machine and scanner that I guess we are going to get, that caused a bit of issues there at the meeting, so that is really good that I brought that up. I didn't realise how hard or difficult it would be to get one. We are now going to do a petition and get teachers involved also for a photocopying machine or scanner. We will probably go with the scanner if that is going to work out easier for them to say yes to. That would be great, because we really need one, so we are going to get one.
Lauren: There are several ideas that Mark has agreed to - one of them is having a free day for the youth in Lismore, another one being to get flyers out there to get the youth more noticing the PCYC. There are a lot of facilities available at the PCYC and a lot of them are to do with youth, which is really really good, and it would help the youth a lot to be able to come here and possibly on a free day and just see if they like it and how it is. If I was to do it again, there would probably be nothing that I would do differently. I think this is definitely the way to go to help the youth get out of the circle of aggression and violence and things like that and to be able to get them to change their lifestyle. Music
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