Local Parliamentary Convention

On the 8th of August, our school was invited to a Parliament event at Mackillop College Werribee. A group of 11 legal studies students from Years 11-12 volunteered to go and were accompanied by Miss Nina, the legal studies teacher and Chirnside Year 12 coordinator. We arrived just after nine and were greeted by the school’s representatives.

Our school was represented by Kaylee, who was then asked to come up and introduce our school, giving our opinions on the subject matter of ‘Young people under the age of 30 should have a permanent voice in Parliament’. We were then given an inspiring speech by Federal Member for Wyndham Joanne Ryan, and later, an informative speech by the Deputy Mayor of Wyndham and the youngest mayor of Wyndham, Josh Gilligan.

After lunch, we were split into groups to debate whether we agreed or disagreed on the topic, expressing our opinions to other students at the event. We later combined and listened as the group expressed their viewpoints. The students from our school, Kaylee and Nyapath, discussed the views of their group and how they believed that more than one person is needed to represent a whole community of young people. 

At the end of the day, the students of all schools were chosen to vote on whether they agreed or disagreed, using ‘ayes’ and ‘noes’ like in Parliament. It turned out to be a close vote, with 63 students voting ‘aye’ and 48 voting ‘noes’. 

As a school, we pay tribute to Mackillop College for hosting the event and allowing us access to their school. We also thank Emily Vakapuna for informing us legal studies students of the opportunities and finally Nina Taghaddosi for organising the event. 

-Kaylee Gleeson (Year 11 Student).