We Want a Place in Nation Building

On 29 July, I had an opportunity I never expected as a student: giving evidence to the Senate Select Committee on Productivity in Australia.

I appeared as part of a witness panel of community leaders and volunteers to discuss our submission, Removing the Handbrake, which explores the small barriers that quietly hold back productivity in Australia. Sitting before senators and speaking in Parliament was definitely daunting, but more than anything, I felt proud. I knew that the experiences that had brought me there gave me something meaningful to contribute.

For years, volunteering has been a significant part of my life. I have helped develop and deliver projects for my local community, from running events and managing registrations to mentoring volunteers, building partnerships between community organisations, and founding a youth engagement program in my neighbourhood.

I never did any of this expecting recognition. Yet when the opportunity came to speak before the Senate, those experiences mattered. They had given me the confidence and perspective to speak about something I believe strongly: young Australians should be given more opportunities to understand and contribute to the country they will one day lead.

When Senator Ananda-Rajah invited me to contribute, I spoke about the gap I sometimes see between the Australia we learn at school and the Australia beyond the classroom. Our education system gives us an incredible foundation, and I genuinely enjoy my subjects. In VCE Politics and Economics, I can discuss ideas and issues stretching from Washington to Beijing. Yet it can sometimes be harder to connect those ideas to places such as Ballarat, to agriculture, or to the regional industries and communities that help power our country.

My years in community work have taught me that there is a difference between learning about problems and being given the opportunity to help solve them. I told the committee that education should prepare us not only for exams, but also for real life. We should learn more about regional Australia, entrepreneurship, emerging technology and even how to develop our own policy ideas.

Too often, we are taught to observe the country around us rather than imagine how we might help shape it.

We want more than a place in the classroom. We want a place in nation building.

Senator Ananda-Rajah responded positively, saying she would raise the point with the Education Minister, and Senator McKenzie echoed her support. The exchange is now recorded in Hansard (the permanent record of Australia’s Parliament).

The experience also changed how I think about volunteering. Every event I had helped run, every project I had worked on and every volunteer I had mentored had been teaching me skills I would eventually carry into that Senate hearing.

You cannot always know where service will take you. Something that begins with helping at a school event, joining a student leadership team, or putting your hand up for a community project can eventually give you the experience and confidence to contribute on a much larger stage.

So, to other students, my message is simple: start serving your community now. You do not need to wait until you are older to make a meaningful contribution.

One day, a bigger opportunity might come your way, and when it does, you may realise that everything you’ve done along the way has been preparing you to take your seat at the table.

By Anya Gupta 12C3