Youth Parliament

Youth Parliament is an annual program that allows young people aged 16-25 to participate in parliament-style debates. Students are allocated to a team of six and are required to write a Bill and debate this during a week-long camp during the first week of the July school holidays. 

This year Kyabram P-12 College sent our first team on a full scholarship since pre-covid with their ‘Increased Regularity and Accessibility of Rural Public Transport Bill’ which they have been working on over term one and two. It was incredibly important that our school was involved this year. Not only was our team the only one from the Goulburn Valley or Ovens Valley, one of only two teams from Northern Victoria as a whole, but also the only regional public school in the state that participated in the program. This constitutes a massive underrepresentation in Youth Parliament of regional and public schools with every other team hailing from metropolitan and/or private schools. This makes Kyabram P-12 College a leader in our state and region by offering its students a unique and valuable experience to have their young regional voices heard and develop rare and useful skills that are often rendered unavailable to regional areas. 

Students Matilda, Patrick, Lachlan, Xander and Killara spent countless hours working with their mentors and local members of parliament over the course of the year to develop an idea and write a Bill in relation to something that affects them in the wider community. Huge appreciation goes to The Honourable Peter Walsh MP and local member for parliament Sam Birrell for assisting the students in the initial stages of their Bill. 

Participating students reflected on the program after their return to school and spoke highly of the experience mentioning how well organised the program was, the incredible meals, being fed seven times a day, award opportunities, and meeting many new people that they will be in contact with well into the future. Xander mentioned that they had an eye-opening experience that allowed him to learn more about who he is as a person and was touched by the amount of other people who appreciated him during camp. 

Their day started at 6:00am and finished at 10:00pm and was jam packed full of debates, physical activities, networking and much more. There were many opportunities for students to participate in activities and win a range of awards. Xander won the Spirit of Camp award for the Kyabram team mentioning:

“Writing our bill was a struggle for me, but once I was there it all came together and with this new confidence and seeing how the process worked I was able to contribute not only to the Kyabram team but to two other teams as well, delivering strong speeches to all, allowing me to win the spirit of camp award for the Kyabram team, which I’m extremely proud of.”

Matilda was another of our award winners taking home the ‘Best Debater’ and has been approached by local parliamentarians to become a member of their political party. With ambitions of becoming a politician later in life, the experiences and connections that Matilda has made with be incredibly beneficial to her career pathway. 

This year our school has proved that our students can achieve anything given the right opportunities. Our students are excited to attend this program again in 2026 and look forward to their next bill!