Lisa Chester Joins VCE Class

Last Wednesday, Ms Paul’s Year Eleven 1/2 politics class had the privilege of having a Zoom call with Federal Member for the Division of Bendigo, Lisa Chesters MP. After some technical difficulties, our class welcomed Ms Chesters to the call, and Ms Chesters began by discussing the present issue of the Coronavirus Crisis and talked about the sheer scale and magnitude of the crisis in relation to Australia’s governmental response.

Ms Chesters highlighted such actions as the suspension of commonwealth parliament, and also the formation of a National Cabinet, similar to the wartime cabinets formed during the First and Second Wars, being noted as key actions, and Ms Chesters also highlighted the fact that the government had undertaken actions typically not expected from a government seen to be broadly conservative, to the somewhat moderate “right-wing” of politics; actions such as taking on more public debt, in order to fund economies stimulus packages, as well as wage subsidisation by means of the JobKeeper allowance. Ms Chesters even said the latter policy was somewhat “Socialist”, and it was particularly surprising the government did such a thing.

Ms Chesters commented that in her role as Federal Bendigo MP, her office has been inundated by an increase in calls requesting assistance on various matters relating to the Coronavirus Crisis, such as those stranded overseas, people seeking clarification on schools, and requesting help with various aforementioned Government welfare payments, such as JobKeeper, and JobSeeker. In some cases, because the issue raised was the responsibility of other government departments, Ms Chesters can do only so much.

The floor (or call, if you like) was then opened for questions, which included Ms Chesters' opinion on School closures, to which she stated that she, in fact, disagrees with her state Labor colleagues, and was not opposed to the re-opening of schools, to avoid and limit anxieties among students, and to give parents relief in the crisis also. Ms Chesters was also asked about a variety of other topics, ranging from other Coronavirus related issues, to issues pertaining to the Environment, and even one question about an Australian space force.

Ms Chesters was very interested in hearing the perspectives from young people, and was keen to take notes on what our class had to say on topics relating to our future, particularly surrounding employment and education.

Our class would like thank Lisa for giving up her time to talk to our politics class, and to promote a healthy political discussion particularly in busy and uncertain times such as these. She is also thanked for her patience with any technical difficulties!

Aubrey Jacobs (11 Jones)