Humanities 

National Civics & Citizenship Convention 2022

On Thursday 27 October, two Year 9 Nossal students, Anhad Arora and Wilbur Machado, accompanied by Mr Sacco and Ms Nguyen, attended the Civics and Citizenship Year 9 & 10 Convention, held in the Grand Ballroom of The Hotel Windsor. The one-day program was hosted online from the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra, with groups of students from all states and territories joining virtually from around the country.

Before attending the convention, both students had to submit an application form that included a 200-word response to the prompt, "Should Australia have compulsory voting." After being informed that they were one of the 30 successful applicants, the students began studying various prereading materials that related to the origin of elections in Australia as well as the current election system.

The topic of the convention was "Should Australia have compulsory voting?" Throughout the day, three keynote speakers delved into the topics, "History of compulsory voting in Australia," "The arguments for and against compulsory voting," and "Voting arrangements in other countries." Each speaker was extremely knowledgeable and together painted a clear picture of voting in Australia and around the world.

The students were then allowed to discuss their thoughts and opinions on the topic in groups of 5. After this, they had a chance to share their group's final opinion with the rest of the attendees. There was then a soapbox event, where for 30 minutes, any student could make a 2-minute statement on things relating to the topic. This proved to be quite lively as conflicting opinions fostered multiple debates between states.

The convention ended with a final vote on whether "Australia should have compulsory voting or not." After tallying the votes from all the state hubs, it was clear that the majority believed that we should have compulsory voting in Australia. A communiqué was then presented to Senator the Hon. Sue Lines, President of the Senate.

Overall the event was a very educational experience for the students and teachers that attended. All involved came away with a wealth of knowledge on Australia's election system as well as those around the world. It also demonstrated how lucky Australia is to have such a fair and unbiased election system, ensuring the protection of our democracy for years to come.

Wilbur Machado

Year 9