Les Twentyman has been on the frontline of heartbreak and hope for over 30 years.
As one of Australia's best-known youth outreach workers and social campaigners Les has developed his expert opinion the hard way – on the street.
Current work
Les has consistently shone a light on emerging youth issues like gang violence, weapons carriage, cyber bullying and the growing trend of truancy in our education system. The hard-hitting DVD “The Realities of Cyber Bullying” and CSA “Knives Trash Lives” are testament to Les' “pull no punches” approach to the damage caused to youth through peer pressure and social media.
Les is often called on to visit volatile regional areas of Australia in a bid to bring about harmony and cooperation where gangs and youth violence is a problem. He has also accompanied the Governor General, state Government ministers and leaders of industry to the dark-streets' of Australia they never thought existed.
In addition to his tireless work with disadvantaged youth and media commentary, Les is a well credentialed public speaker. His speaking engagements include schools, community groups, service clubs, corporate, Government Departments and business conferences. He has also been engaged by Australian Football League and National Rugby League teams to address young players on the pitfalls of “celebrity”. A testament to Les' reach was being asked to introduce his Holiness The Dalai Lama at his Melbourne conference in June 2013.
Les has devoted his life to those-in-need. The Les Twentyman Foundation maintains his vision and legacy.
Previous experience
Background: Raised in Braybrook in Melbourne's West Les has devoted his life to young people doing it tough. Les is widely considered an expert on a range of community issues including youth homelessness, drug abuse, prison reform and social welfare.
Media: He is the first stop for Victorian and national media outlets for the word on “how it really is”. He has featured in hundreds of TV, radio & print press interviews and has been a regular newspaper columnist and article contributor. He also features in a number of documentaries, most notably -”The Ohio Gun Buyback Scheme”, “LA Gangs”, “Can We Help”, “20 Minutes with Twentyman” and “Heroin Without the Hype”.
Les was just the biggest hit on Saturday at Power and Leadership seminar. Everyone voted him the best speaker of the day. His story is so magnificent and we just loved having him as our star ... keep reading Power and Leadership Seminar
Thank you most sincerely for agreeing to be the guest speaker last evening at our dinner meeting. You will have taken on board the number of people who congratulated you on your excellent presentation, and I must endorse this sentiment wholeheartedly. Your all encompassing outline of the many facets relating to the disadvantaged and endangered kids under your watchful eye gave us an insight which is not always evident to the everyday person. Most importantly it was indeed a wake-up call to us all.
