Year 11 Student, Narrabundah College, ACT

We live in a world where we have more and more contact with other cultures. As such it is important that Australians, particularly youth, understand what harmony and democracy are and how they work. The Every Voice Counts! 2006 Student Forum was a great environment for this to occur.

As a student, I am interested in politics. Discussing my views and ideas with other students from all over Australia was an excellent opportunity and was, in my opinion, something which is very important. Looking into the future, the ideas which were debated (umm, discussed!) will be important in relation to how young people today see where we are going.

So that is the intellectual side of it, but what did we do at Every Voice Counts!? Well quite simply, we had a lot of fun.

Day 1 involved a long day at Parliament House. After finally getting through security we were taken to a committee room where we were briefed on the day’s events. We then met with the Hon Julie Bishop, MP, Minister for Education, Science and Training, before moving on to launch Celebrating Democracy Week. Following this we all went for a tour of Parliament House before going to Question Time, where everyone got a good laugh out of seeing five – count 'em, five – Members kicked out of the Chamber. We finished the day at the Australian War Memorial.

The second day was more involved. After breakfast we headed back to Parliament House to give evidence to the ‘Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ and got ourselves into Hansard for perpetuity. After this we headed to Old Parliament House for a series of inspiring talks by people involved with charity work, lobbying and journalism. All of these talks were helpful in informing our views on our democracy. We then had a talk from two political advisers who work with the Hon Philip Ruddock, MP (Attorney-General) and Senator the Hon Helen Coonan (Minister for Communcations, Information Technology and the Arts) respectively. All of these talks were engaging and interesting. Following this we travelled to another Canberra icon, the National Museum where a large bunch of us made quite a sight in our suits and blazers in the young children’s K–Zone.

The final day of Every Voice Counts! involved putting together the sum of our three days into a report to be presented to the Minister for Education, Science and Training.

Through a mock Senate enquiry we put together a report which was the subject of some debate, but which was ultimately adopted as a good representation of our views on how young people can contribute to Australia’s harmonious democracy. It was a good finale to the three days. Overall, the Every Voice Counts! 2006 Student Forum provided a great opportunity for students from across Australia to discuss issues and have a great time doing it.