YLab partnered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to create Deadly Democracy: an initiative empowering First Nations young leaders across Australia with the skills and knowledge to better engage in our democratic process.

Deadly Democracy is the proud winner of the 2025 Good Design Award of the Year. You can read an in-depth article about the award-winning project here.

Social Impact & Service Education Services

CHALLENGES

Previous AEC-led civic education programs were often Canberra-based and fly-in-fly-out, creating disconnection from Country and community. Existing civic education programs failed to acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonisation and the importance of relational place-based learning, First Nations values or ways of knowing. These approaches lacked continuity, cultural safety, and relevance to First Nations experiences. As a result, many young First Nations people felt alienated and excluded from the democratic processes that did not reflect their lived experiences or values of kinship, storytelling and collective leadership. Without culturally safe pathways, First Nations people are excluded and underrepresented in Australia’s democratic systems.

Deadly Democracy aimed to empower First Nations young people to use their vote as a way to demonstrate leadership and to advocate for themselves and their community.

Approach

Paid recruitment and training

YLab recruited First Nations leaders from across Australia as Associates to take part in workshops designed to build their knowledge, skills, and influence within Australia’s democratic systems. The workshops were delivered through a hybrid model across Broome, Port Augusta and Townsville, allowing them to stay connected to Country while developing their skills. Each was paid for their contribution, recognising lived experience as expertise.

Lived experience co-design

All stages of Deadly Democracy were grounded in co-design frameworks that positioned young First Nations people as program designers from the outset. Every activity was co-created through yarning, storytelling and hands-on design sessions with young Mob. This ensured the content was locally relevant, culturally safe and reflective of identity and community priorities. Their lived experiences shaped how electoral knowledge was explored and shared, approaching democracy as something lived, not lectured.

First Nations-led delivery

First Nations facilitators guided every stage, ensuring cultural safety, trust and self determination. Young Mob weren’t passive participants, they were the designers, educators and changemakers shaping how civic education and democratic engagement looks for their peers.

Community Partnerships

Local Indigenous organisations acted as trusted entry points and workplaces. First Nations organisations such as NRL Cowboys House, Garnduwa and Umeewarra Radio 89.1 FM hosted workshops and offered wrap-around support. This network expanded across 7 locations over the course of the program. Their involvement grounded the program in Country and community, creating continuous engagement in lieu of the existing fly-in-fly-out models.

How we engaged Young People

Hybrid delivery allowed young people to join Co-Design workshops online from partnered local organisation’s premises. Each participant gained skills in facilitation, public engagement and leadership. These learnings and knowledge exchange grew beyond the co-design sessions, with participants going on to design their own community projects - murals, radio segments, art and sports events - that made democracy visible and relevant in everyday life.

Project outcomes

The program turned democratic learning into a tool for self determination and knowledge exchange. Confidence, civic knowledge and leadership skills grew measurably, with participants describing feeling respected, culturally safe and empowered to create change and lead conversations about voting and democracy in their communities. Each participant accrued over 100 hours of paid employment, creating genuine pathways for growth. Their communities benefitted as participants took on leadership roles, shared knowledge, and created space for others to engage. The impact extended beyond individual growth, empowering democratic participation and trust in civic systems through the voices and leadership of Young Mob. For the AEC, the program built lasting relationships and new models for engaging and centering First Nations voices in electoral processes.

Deadly Democracy has demonstrated its scalability/adaptability across diverse First Nations contexts through its hybrid delivery, community partnerships and co-design model. By embedding culture, care and lived experience from the beginning, Deadly Democracy is helping a new generation of young First Nations people shape a more representative and inclusive democracy. The program’s innovation lay in ensuring that civic education was community-led, culturally grounded, and driven by those closest to the issues—making it one of the most forward-thinking models for democratic participation among Indigenous communities.

'First Nations communities don't interact with our democratic system because we don't see how it benefits us to engage with it. The government has historically been so extractive which creates distrust. But this program showed how First Nations young people can use democracy to the advantage of our communities.'

Co-design participant