Telstra Foundation Youth Advisory Council

The STORY

The Telstra Foundation backs young people to thrive online. In 2024 it sought to set up a Youth Advisory Council and asked us support them to establish and run it.

Up to twenty young people, chosen through a public application and paid for their time, became a working part of the Foundation. They shaped the questions in the Australian Youth Digital Index, made videos for its launch, co-designed with Telstra's product teams, and spoke on stage alongside the Foundation's CEO. The Councio is still going strong into 2027 and forms a key part of the Telstra Foundation's work.

The challenge: where we started

Youth advisory groups often follow a familiar pattern. Young people are invited to a few meetings, listen to adults, and never see what changed.

The Foundation wanted something different. The first Australian Youth Digital Index was being built, and its questions needed to come from young people's own lives. The council also had to be open to a wide range of young people, including those in regional and remote areas, First Nations young people, and young people with disability, neurodivergence or lived experience of mental ill-health.

The solution: our approach

We gave the council real work, real access and a way to keep improving.

1. Recruit openly, and pay. Applications were open to all, with video or written entries and parent consent for under-18s. Council members were paid casual advisors, not volunteers.
2. Start with real work. In their first sessions, members unpacked the Index's five pillars (access, connectivity, digital skills, safety and wellbeing), then gave advice on the survey questions to the research team.
3. Let them make things. Council members co-created videos for the Index launch, including "My Ideal Digital World" and "A Day in My Digital Life", and in 2025 worked on a series of short reels.
4. Open the doors to the business. The council took part in a design workshop with Telstra's product teams, a consultation with an education account team, and a roundtable with around 60 of the Foundation's partners.
5. Ask what worked, then change it. After year one we held a retrospective with the council. We changed the age range to 12 to 18, introduced smaller breakout rooms, moved to a calendar-year schedule, simplified consent, and made it clear that taking part at different levels is fine.
6. Follow the data. In 2025 the council took the Index's findings on sleep and ran with them, designing a seven-day Sleep Challenge with two experts.

The difference it made: our impact

The council did real work, and the Foundation and Telstra kept asking for more.

• Shaped a national research tool. The council's discussions shaped the Index survey. Members also helped analyse the final data, and their reflections appear throughout the report.
• On stage and in the media. At the Index's launch on 27 November 2024, two council members spoke on stage with the Foundation's CEO, and three more were trained and available for media.
• Telstra came knocking. Within months, seven Telstra business units had asked to work with the council.
• A sleep challenge with findings. In a one-week pilot, 19 members tried personal sleep strategies with expert support. They found that cutting screen time was not what motivated them. Feeling better was.
• Beyond the council. The Foundation built a Sleep Challenge Guide from the pilot and shared it on its blog, and Telstra employees ran their own challenge. We are turning the pilot into a resource for schools and communities.
• Young people grew. Members said the council built their confidence and skills, and creating videos stood out as a highlight.

Key numbers and voices