Little research has examined gender differences in the characteristics of young people attending alcohol and other drug (AOD) services. Several studies have found differences suggesting that young women sometimes present with greater severity of substance use and with greater psychosocial complexity, but there is inconsistency in these findings. Research is needed with larger samples to better understand the circumstances in which the experiences and needs of young women may differ from those of young men. This study reports results of a census of clients (N = 1,000) attending youth-specific alcohol and other drug (AOD) services in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Protecting participants -especially the vulnerable and/or young -is essential to respecting individuals and doing so upholds the merit and integrity of research. Research is a way of improving the lives of the vulnerable as research informs policy and service provision. Research participants need to be protected, but as their right, they also need to be able to participate in research as a way of being heard on matters which affect them. This article argues that ethical review of research is so heavily focused on minimising risk that young people's right to participate in discussion is often overlooked. I use my own research with young people who have experienced problematic substance use as a running case study to discuss the tension between balancing protection and participation in research design and offer strategies for balancing the two when designing research.

The COVID‐19 pandemic is both a health and an economic crisis. Economically, lockdowns across Australia have devastated business and industry, creating immediate spikes in under‐ and unemployment. These impacts intersect with the precarious labour market of casualised and "gig" economy work, where young workers constitute an established and substantial group. While negatively impacting upon many young people’s lives, in recent decades precarious employment has also been normalised for young people as they are encouraged to understand themselves as self‐reliant and entrepreneurial in their working lives. Yet, these workers have been largely abandoned in the government’s economic response to COVID‐19. The economic impact and government response to the pandemic substantially disadvantage young people. This article analyses the impact of new government initiatives: the "JobKeeper" wage subsidy scheme, "JobSeeker" payments and early access to superannuation, "JobMaker" economic recovery plan and the redesign of university fees. These initiatives compound preexisting youth policy of low welfare levels, youth wages and high university fees to economically burden young people. Contrasting the repeated expression of anything pandemic related as "unprecedented", we argue that the economic abandonment of young people in the immediate COVID‐19 crisis continues a decades‐long precedent in Australia of economically disadvantaging young people.

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