Our Mission
Mission & Values
The principles that guide everything we do — grounded in liberty, evidence, and respectful dialogue.
“A country is only as good as its next generation.”
Australia asks young people to inherit the future. We believe they should also help shape it, not through protest but through reason and participation.
Grounded in the values of modern liberalism, this institute exists to strengthen Australia’s democratic institutions by ensuring that young Australians are continuously heard, their experiences are rigorously understood, and their ideas are transformed into practical solutions that improve public policy.
Our mission is simple: to ensure that every major decision affecting young Australians is informed by evidence collected from young Australians themselves, while advancing the principles of individual liberty, opportunity, personal responsibility, and accountable government.
We exist to answer three questions:
What is happening?
Why is it happening?
What should we do next?
Our Goal
To become Australia’s leading and trusted home of youth thought, where young people can raise the issues governments and oppositions have overlooked, develop practical, evidence-based solutions, and shape the national conversation.
To be more than a resource for Members of Parliament, but to serve as a genuine partner in policymaking, ensuring that the interests and freedoms of the next generation are never overlooked in the decisions that shape Australia’s future.
Our Core Values
Our work is guided by the belief that the best public policy is informed by the people it affects most. Young Australians are not simply the beneficiaries of today’s decisions; they are essential partners in shaping them. By engaging directly with young people like no other institute has ever done, we can uncover fresh perspectives, identify emerging challenges, and develop solutions that might otherwise be overlooked.
We also recognise that every policy issue affecting young Australians is complex. Meaningful engagement with those experiencing these challenges firsthand allows us to understand their full nuance rather than relying on assumptions.
We understand that policy and politics more broadly are a passionate issue for the youth, and that is why our organisation places mutually respectful dialogue as the centrepiece of all our work.
The moment we begin to demonise the other side in favour of political bravado is also the moment we become deaf to dissension. The moment we become deaf to dissension is also the moment we become deaf to accountability and innovation in our civic life, undermining our ability to adapt.
While we are unapologetically committed to the principles of liberty, personal responsibility, and limited, accountable government, we recognise that these ideals are strengthened — not weakened — by rigorous debate. We do not seek to build an echo chamber or demand ideological conformity. Good policy is tested through disagreement and improved by hearing perspectives that challenge our own.
Every young Australian who engages with us will be heard in good faith, regardless of their political beliefs. We ask only that ideas are advanced with evidence, respect, and a willingness to engage constructively. In a political environment increasingly defined by populism, polarisation and division, we remain committed to intellectual honesty and practical solutions that serve the interests of the next generation.
These are the principles that bind our multicultural nation together, and they will continue to guide everything we do.
