By ensuring young people are taking part in education, training or employment until the age of 17, the ACT will go from having the youngest leaving age in the country alongside the Northern Territory to coming into line with most other states.

NSW has also recently mandated a participation age of 17 to be in place from the 2010 academic year.

ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr said the Government would table its legislation in the Legislative Assembly's spring sittings after issuing a community consultation paper yesterday which saw general support for the scheme.

The legislation will affect about 900 ACT young people who leave school each year before completing their Year 12 Certificate.

While the ACT Government began looking at the issue last April, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is keen to see a national consensus on leaving ages and the issue is on the agenda at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting later this month.

This would not only ensure national consistency but would back state and territory mandates with Commonwealth Government power to penalise young people and their parents financially or otherwise for non-compliance.

Mr Barr said the ACT Government could not withhold social security benefits from a young person aged between 15 and 17, or their parents, if they were not engaged in education, training or work.

''But a young person in breach of the law at a territory level would then trigger some sanctions at the Commonwealth level, and this will be discussed at COAG: how the states and territories work with the Commonwealth around enforcement,'' Mr Barr said.

New sanctions would be consistent with current arrangements that if young people were not attending school they, or their parents, would be issued with a formal warning and persistent non-compliance would incur fines or possible jail time.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times