What does a fair go look like?
The Fair Go Study explores how Australian students in Years 9–12 understand success, opportunity and fairness.
The study asks young Australians what they think — and what they believe shapes the opportunities people have.
Australia is built around the idea of a “fair go”.
The Fair Go Study asks students across Australia to share their views on success, opportunity and fairness.
Does working hard give everyone the same chance to succeed? How much do family circumstances, education or where someone lives matter? And do young people think Australia lives up to the idea of a fair go?
Rather than assuming the answers, the study asks students directly.
What are we asking?
The study looks at how young Australians understand the things that can shape a person's chances in life.
Is success mainly about hard work, or do other things shape where someone ends up?
How much can family, education, location and circumstances affect the chances people have?
How do young Australians understand fairness and equal opportunity?
Do students believe everyone has a genuine chance to succeed?
What happens to the answers?
The survey is only the beginning. The findings are intended to become a resource that can contribute to wider conversations about opportunity, inequality and policy.
After 23 October 2026
The survey will close and the responses will be analysed. The findings will be brought together in the Fair Go Report.
The report will be published and the findings can be shared with MPs, ministers, government departments and organisations working with young people.
The goal: make young people's perspectives part of the conversation about the policies and systems that shape their opportunities.
From responses to action.
Collect responses
Students across Australia share their experiences and perspectives.
Find the patterns
Responses are analysed to understand what students think about success, opportunity and fairness.
Build the findings
The results become the Fair Go Report, bringing the national picture together.
Start the conversation
The findings can reach organisations and decision-makers who shape policy.
Your perspective belongs here.
The survey is anonymous and takes approximately five minutes. There are no right or wrong answers — the study wants honest perspectives from students across Australia.
Survey closes 23 October 2026.