Humanities Report

On the sixth of May the Year eleven and twelve Legal studies students had the amazing opportunity to meet with Alex Dyson, ex Triple J radio host, who is an Independant candidate for the Wannon electorate in the upcoming Federal election. 

We got to know the processes of being a candidate in an election, including the applications needed to be handed into the Australian Electoral Commission, and encouraging us all to be candidates in the future.  Alex was incredibly open about everything, from his campaign and being a candidate to his Triple J days. 

When we asked about how his image changed from 2019, when his campaign only included him doing an interpretive dance to outline his then policies, he acknowledged that he is taking this campaign a lot more seriously and is aiming for change in the Wannon district.

Because Alex is a part of the Climate 200 program, his main policies encompass those of climate change, gender equality, as well as mental health. Throughout the last 6 months he has been able to develop other policies through speaking with other locals in the community, particularly in Hamilton. He has promised to ensure the Hospital here is supplied with an MRI machine, as our Community has had to raise money through bake sales instead of it being supplied by the Government. Within his entrepreneurship in this election Alex let us in on what it is like to collaborate with different influencers, especially on TikTok with Millie Ford and the infamous video “You don’t want to vote the same as your parents” which was really fulfilling for us all.

 Alex also asked us questions and was interested in our point of view as young adults and wanted our feedback. He was open to hear about the roads, as well as the lack of education options for Hamilton and Portland students after Year 12, which is a worry to a lot of people in our community. We hope to see Alex at our Year 12 mid-year dinner in June.

Following our meeting with Alex Dyson, four students decided to attend the forum held on Monday night in the PAC which was a question and answer session between residents and the candidates in this area and was extremely valuable in assisting us in becoming informed voters and becoming educated on other prominent issues in this area.

On a separate occasion we had the chance to meet Judge Chambers and her two legal associates based in the criminal division in the County Court. Judge Chambers has more than 25 years legal experience and was appointed as the new President of the Children’s Court and a Judge in the County Court. She provided insight into the complexities of sentencing, which provided with difficulties during the 2020 and 2021 COVID crisis. She also explained her role of being a Judge during trials, and her journey to get to her position. Judge Chambers told us personal anecdotes of previous cases similar to the Bourke Street killer and she was incredibly interesting to speak with. We also got to chat with Nathaniel, who is still new to his role of legal associate, and this provided us with much encouragement as he just graduated from University himself and knows the day-to-day stresses of Year 11 and 12.

I would also like to thank Ms. Neeson for giving us the opportunity to even speak to these people in the first place. Both Year 11 and 12 Legal studies classes are eternally grateful for this as she continues to push our studies to the next level and ensure we are successful in not only secondary school but our future careers as well.