An unfiltered look at Youth Parliament

By Alice O'Brien

Jul 16, 2024

The 2024 Youth Press Gallery. Photo by Contributed

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Youth Parliament began with the Youth Governor, Kaitlin Woolford (’Sheepy’ to those who know her), rattling off the achievements of Vincent Van Gogh, Greta Thunberg and Joan of Arc before they turned 16 years old. But while I sat there and listened to this inspiring speech, all I could think was — holy bleep, the only achievement I had to my name at 16 was watching all eight series of the Vampire Diaries in three weeks.

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For those who don’t know what Youth Parliament is, let me explain. Young people aged 16 to 25 apply to join YMCA Victoria Youth Parliament. In teams of six, the participants spend four months creating a bill to present and debate in the Victorian Parliament. The bills of 2024 primarily related to education, health, housing, environment, public transport and legalising cannabis — don’t lie, I know your ears have pricked up reading this. The bill did not pass, though, so don’t go smoking your weed in the open just yet.

The teams debated their bills against each other in parliament over the span of the first week of July. Depending on how the debate went, participants voted yes or no for the bill to be passed. Out of the 20 bills presented this year, 17 passed. The passed bills were handed to the relevant government ministers for their consideration.

This consideration is a big deal. More than 30 pieces of state legislation have originated in the Youth Parliament. This includes roadside drug testing for drivers, removal of glass from high-risk entertainment venues, over-the-counter availability of the morning after pill and mandatory wearing of a bicycle helmet. That’s right, children as young as 16 helped the government realise the importance of wearing a helmet while riding a bike.

Having read all this, you might be thinking, gosh, it’s pretty impressive to be part of Youth Parliament, right? Well, I can burst your bubble, because this wasn’t exactly what I was doing when I was part of Youth Parliament.

Before this experience, I had never entered the parliamentary buildings in my life. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t very knowledgeable on Victorian politics either. So, here I was walking into parliament only confidently knowing who our Prime Minister is — the guy with big ears, right?

So, you may be asking how this girl managed to weasel her way into this program. Well, I joined the team called the Youth Press Gallery. We interviewed, filmed and reported on the parliamentary week. There were eight of us on the team and we all got assigned two bills to report on.

One of the bills I reported on was calling for more equitable road tolls. No-one on the team that created this bill even owned a car, let alone paid road tolls, and yet they chose to use this time to fight for those who did. The other bill I reported on was aiming to create more affordable accommodation in the city for tertiary students. I felt like this team read my mind — as someone who paid over $1000 a month for a square box of a room, I strongly supported this bill. But, of course, I reported it neutrally, as I am a true professional. Somewhat.

As members of the press gallery, we also had to take videos of the debates. I only took one. And there is a reason for this. While I was sitting in the press gallery, I decided to open the tripod stand to put my camera on so I could record a steady video. Smart, right? Not smart. As I was opening the tripod stand, two of the legs got caught in between the wooden panels separating the press gallery from the youth parliamentarians.

I began to sweat.

The legs were stuck, so, as any normal person would, I began to yank the tripod legs out of the panel. I managed to free the legs! But in the process of doing this, it made a loud scraping sound — the whole Legislative Council Chamber fell quiet as I stood up and scurried my way out of there like a little rat.

Unsurprisingly to say, I was not asked to record any more debates.

However, despite this little hiccup, the whole experience of listening and speaking to the young people who were part of Youth Parliament left me speechless. The fire and passion these young people had for using their voices for the better was truly inspirational. Youth Parliament provides a safe place for young people to speak directly to our government about issues close to their hearts.

Another thing to note is while this whole week was happening, all the participants of the program, which was well over 100, stayed together at a camp outside Bacchus Marsh. To give an insight into how I personally handled this, imagine unwanted early mornings and nearly missing the bus to parliament, being frightened by random kangaroos on the walk to the toilet and smashing eight glasses on the ground because you tripped on your shoelace.

Overall, the experience of the program, from being on camp to being in parliament, was an experience I’ll hold dear, and I encourage anyone who has an inkling to apply for next year to just go ahead and do it!

P.S: I know our prime minister is no longer the guy with big ears.

If you want to read more about the bills presented at this year’s Youth Parliament, please head to the YMCA Victorian Youth Parliament website.

• Alice O’Brien is a Media Communication and Design student at Monash University, and is currently completing an internship with The News.