R-E-S-P-E-C-T – find out what it means to youth

LISMORE City Council will today launch a program aimed to Goonellabah a safer, happier community by improving relations between youth and authority figures.

Lismore City Council chambers

LISMORE City Council will today launch a program aimed at making Goonellabah a safer, happier community by improving relations between the area's youth and its authority figures.

The council said the Goonellabah Youth Protocol, which will be launched at 2pm at the Oliver Avenue council chambers, would be aimed at creating an environment of mutual respect between people in positions of authority, such as police, teachers, businesses, and security officers, and the area's young people.

Lismore council's youth and community development officer Lizette Twisleton said the message would be spread by posters, brochures, and cards bearing messages about the need for respect and would be handed out through schools, businesses, police, security guards, and youth services.

"The idea is to really discern between antisocial behaviour and criminal behaviour," she said.

"When antisocial behaviour is displayed a heavy-handed approach does not always help the situation and this really looks at how to communicate respectfully to young people in those scenarios.

"It also clearly identifies for young people different behaviours, reasonable expectations of community members and what are fair consequences."We want to bring everyone to a place where they can all be respectful of each other, and make our community safer and happier."