Humanities News

A visit from an MP

Last week, the Year 9 Legals students, and some Year 10 Government and Justice students, hosted former St Joseph’s College student and now Federal MP for Aston, Ms Mary Doyle. Ms Doyle was invited to speak to the students about her experiences and work as a Member of Parliament. 

Given that students have been studying Australian democracy and government, this was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn a little more about our system of government from a personal perspective. 

Ms Doyle shared some of her personal experiences as a student at St Joseph’s, her love for and involvement in both drama and music (even revealing that she has performed with the Parliamentary band, Left Right Out!), and her work with various unions prior to running for public office.

Students were well prepared with questions for Ms Doyle and made the most of the opportunity to ask her about her life and experience as a parliamentarian. Among other things, students wanted to know if she faced any particular challenges as a woman in Parliament, what was most challenging about election campaigning, what a regular day in Parliament looked like, who her ‘least favourite’ MP might be (which she politely avoided to answer, instead focusing on good people in opposition!) and if she had any particular political goals beyond representing her electorate.

The Member for Aston was accompanied by one of her staffers, Russell, who eagerly drew students’ attention to some additional details about Parliament House, including its enormous number of clocks (over 2000!) the number of rooms (more than 4000!) and the great size of the national flag adorning the House. He also outlined how Ms Doyle spent her time in Parliament, including details about her work on various Parliamentary committees.   

We thank Ms Doyle for her visit and insights, Ms Adriaans, a fellow alumnus and friend of Ms Doyle, for suggesting the invitation, and the students for their attentiveness and great questions. The event exemplified civic engagement and political education, crucial elements of flourishing democracies.

Mary Doyle and Catherine Adriaans from when they were SRC representatives in Year 9 (1985) from the St Joseph's College magazine of that year.

Ms Phillips and Mr Vehlen