SCHOOLS’ STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 2013

On Monday 21 October, seven politically interested McKinnon students attended the Schools’ State Constitutional Convention at the Parliament of Victoria.

The State School’s Convention began with an introduction by the Honorary Mrs Christine Fyffe, Member for Evelyn and the deputy speaker for the Parliament of Victoria. Then the Minister for Education, the Honorary Martin Dixon introduced the topic for the convention: ‘Australia’s version of democracy is flawed’.

Dr Aaron Martin provided students with further detail of the topic they would be discussing. Delegates from around twelve schools presented their point of views about Australia’s democracy which followed up with intense questioning from fellow delegates. After an hour of critical debates, the Federal Member for Melbourne, Mr Adam Brandt, spoke about his stance on Australia’s democracy and about young people being involved in politics. His speech was very motivating and gave students a broader understanding of the modern day young person’s role in society, particularly for political purpose. A delicious morning tea was served before students headed off to their discussion groups where each group discussed different aspect of Australia’s democracy.

These areas included: engaging young people in politics, the process of the elections, addressing human rights, reviewing the three tiers of government, looking at the role of media in a democracy and comparing our democracy to that of other countries. These discussion groups provided many students who had not had the opportunity to speak to voice their opinions. The reporting session of the results of the discussion groups were held after lunch; with each group coming up with an original and innovative idea that could possibly have a positive effect on the democracy. After one more opportunity to speak in the Soap Box, it came down to the voting session where most statements were passed. A few times, the Speaker had to re-do the votes as the ‘yays’ and ‘no’s’ were too similar to make a judgement. A student from Hoppers Crossing Secondary College spoke about her experiences at the 2013 National convention, which is the next goal for 2014 of our politically minded student group.

I would like to congratulate the students on their effort in preparation for this event and their contributions on the day and thank Mr Kemp for accompanying students to Parliament House.

Andrea Fowler

Head of Languages