Governmental Listening in the Climate Crisis: Youth Activism and Government Responses in Australia
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Youth participation is often framed through the language of youth voice, with comparatively little concern for how authorities listen and respond to young people’s concerns. Rather than viewing voice as something to be bestowed upon young people by benevolent adults, this article argues for a shift toward listening as an epistemic and political practice. Focusing on the youth climate movement in Australia, the article explores how governmental listening is enacted, constrained, or avoided altogether in response to youth-led activism. Drawing on publicly visible episodes involving the youth climate movement interactions with the Australian government and policymakers, the article identifies a typology of institutional responses. Our analysis uses illustrative examples to develop a conceptual framework for understanding governmental listening as a politically contingent and contested practice. We argue that listening requires those in power to take seriously the epistemic authority of young people and to recognize and address the structures that silence or marginalize their perspectives. Such a reframing moves the focus from voice as expression to listening as recognition, responsiveness, and accountability. Listening as governance offers a critical framework for understanding and transforming democratic engagement with young people in the current climate crisis.
Authors: Luigi Di Martino, Philippa Collin
Institution: Western Sydney University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7162944239