Disheartened but Not Defeated: Why Australia's Youth Need the Kokoda Track

 Disheartened but Not Defeated: Why Australia's Youth Need the Kokoda Track

In towns and cities across Australia, a quiet frustration is simmering among our young people. They’ve done everything society asked of them—studied hard, earned their degrees, taken on debt in pursuit of education—only to graduate into a job market that is too often closed to them. The promise of opportunity has been replaced with unpaid internships, insecure contracts, or the slow grind of applications that go nowhere. Many are living back at home, disillusioned, wondering what happened to the dream they were sold.

Our youth are not lazy. They are not entitled. They are disheartened. And who can blame them?

They are watching politicians on all sides talk about the “future,” yet fail to meaningfully invest in the next generation. Housing is out of reach, full-time employment is elusive, and mental health issues are on the rise. There’s a growing sense that they’ve been let down by those in power—those who were meant to pave the way, not block it.

But here’s the thing: the strength, grit, and intelligence of our youth are still there—waiting to be reawakened. They just need the right opportunity. One that isn’t found in lecture halls or LinkedIn profiles. One that strips away the noise of social media, political promises, and economic instability, and gets back to something more human. More real.

Enter the Kokoda Track.

The Kokoda Track isn’t just a walk in the jungle. It’s a 96-kilometre crucible of endurance, character, and self-discovery. It’s where you meet yourself in the mud, under the weight of your pack, surrounded by the echoes of our history. For young Australians, it’s a chance to reconnect with values that have always defined us: mateship, courage, endurance, and sacrifice.

When our youth walk Kokoda, they learn they are not powerless. They learn that hardship can be a teacher. They learn that when you walk through something as tough as Kokoda, you come out the other side not just physically stronger—but emotionally and mentally sharper, more connected, and more determined to make a difference.

Kokoda doesn’t hand you a job. But it gives you something deeper: resilience. It fosters a mindset that says, “I can face whatever comes.” It re-instills belief in yourself when systems around you make you feel invisible.

We need more than policies. We need purpose. We need to stop telling young people to wait their turn and start walking alongside them—literally and figuratively—toward a future they help shape.

So if you're a young Aussie feeling like the world has let you down, know this: your journey is not over. In fact, it may just be beginning. The Kokoda Track is calling, and it has a way of revealing the kind of strength that no résumé can show—but every future needs.