Defence Youth Policy

Youth Policy Manual

Keeping young people safe

Youth Policy Reform: Anticipated release of the Youth Manual and Guides in 2025

The youth policy reform, which commenced in February 2023, has been undertaken to ensure Defence’s youth policy and policy guidance is compliant with the Defence Instruction and Enterprise Administrative Policy Arrangements.  The reform is progressing with the Youth Manual and supporting policy enabling products expected to be released in 2025.  These documents will replace the extant Youth Policy Manual.

The reformed documents will:

• be fit for purpose, contemporary and easy to read and understand.
• support innovation, flexibility, a positive risk culture and continuous improvement.

Key Information for Stakeholders:

• The reformed documents are anticipated to go live in the first quarter of 2025 and will be accessible via YouthHQ.
• Stakeholder engagement has been a key part of this reform process. We encourage all relevant areas to review their current documentation in preparation for the release of the reformed Youth Manual and supporting guides. This will necessitate making updates to links/references in due course.

Next Steps:

Further updates will be provided closer to the release date.

We appreciate your continued support and engagement as we finalise this significant reform of Defence youth policy.  If you have any questions, please contact us at defence.youth@defence.gov.au