Submissions & Advocacy

Young men have a lot to say about the issues affecting their lives.

Our role is to listen, learn, and make sure those voices are heard in the places where decisions are made.

At Top Blokes, our advocacy is shaped by the young men we work with every day. Through our programs, consultations, co-design work and youth-led advocacy, we hear directly from young men about what they are experiencing, what support actually helps, and what needs to change.

Our submissions bring the frontline experience of our youth workers, the voices of graduates, and input from schools, families and communities grounded in deep research and evidence. Together, these perspectives help us advocate for policies, systems and services that better understand and support young men.

Why we advocate

We know that young men are often spoken about, but not always listened to.

Through our work in schools and communities, young men tell us about the pressures they are facing from mental health and relationships to online influence, identity, belonging and the expectations placed on them.

Our advocacy helps bring those experiences into broader conversations about prevention, wellbeing, education and social change. We want decision-makers to hear what young men are telling us, and to understand what works when it comes to supporting them.

our impact

Grounded in youth voice
and frontline practice

Young men are experts in their own lives. And our youth workers are alongside them every day.

Our submissions are shaped by what young men tell us through programs, consultations, co-design, graduate insights and youth-led advocacy. We listen to what they are experiencing, what support works, and what needs to change.

We combine this with frontline insights from our youth workers, and where relevant, input from teachers, parents and carers and current research that helps strengthen and contextualise what young people tell us.

This helps us advocate for practical, preventative and evidence-informed responses grounded in real experience.

PORNOGRAPHY

Impacts of harmful pornography on mental, emotional, and physical health

NSW PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY – NOV 24

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION

LONELINESS

Prevalence, causes and impacts of loneliness in NSW

NSW PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY – NOV 24

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION

BULLYING

Anti-Bullying Rapid Review

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT- JUL 25

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION

FAR RIGHT EXTREMISM

Measures to combat right-wing extremism in NSW

NSW PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY – FEB 26

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION

EDUCATION

Factors driving educational attainment

FEDERAL INQUIRY –
JUN 26

DOWNLOAD SUBMISSION

WhAT WE DO

We challenge and nurture young men to be their best selves.

Our programs are more than just a response to the issues young males and their communities face. They are a comprehensive toolkit designed to foster healthy masculinities, build lasting friendships based on trust and respect, and redefine what it means to be a ‘top bloke’ in today’s world.

Discover how our evidence-based, early intervention mentoring programs help young men be leaders in their lives and own their future.

MENTORING PROGRAMS

LATEST NEWS

The influence that the boys in our room have on each other definitely expands out to their community in a really positive way.

The boys’ influence on each other positively impacts the community.

Vin, for anyone who hasn’t heard of it, what is Lift the Load? Lift the Load for Mental Health is a month-long challenge to wear a 10kg vest and walk or run 50km across October. It symbolises helping lift the weight of mental health that young men around us in our community carry every day.  […]

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The work behind the vest: why Michael lifts the load.

Michael is a youth worker and Regional Coordinator with the Top Blokes Sydney team. Every week, he sees what can happen when boys and young men are given consistent space to talk, reflect and be heard. We spoke with him about why Lift the Load for Mental Health matters to him, the impact he sees in the classroom, […]

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What actually draws young men towards harmful ideas. and how to pull them back.

At the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, two Top Blokes set out what radicalisation really looks like for young men today, and what an effective response requires. Antisemitism, radicalisation and extremism are usually discussed in the abstract – as ideologies, as threats, as things to be countered. What’s harder to find is a […]

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