Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about the second SRC forum held in my electorate in the recess. The forum was attended by over 130 primary and secondary school students representing schools from across the electorate and followed on from the inaugural forum in April.

The April forum put forward a range of planned outcomes, from getting a deeper sense of our community to learning about consultation and listening. The follow-up forum in August showed me the students had made significant progress in these outcomes, with many going above and beyond their planned projects.

These SRC forums have proven to be an extremely worthwhile exercise for the students, for the teachers and, obviously, for me. Students harnessed this opportunity to learn from other schools about how they tackle common problems. Many students found a common problem they have is litter in the school grounds. This, of course, came as no surprise to me. Some schools tackle this with games and competitions, which provided ideas to other students on how they could deal with the issue. Teachers noted the leadership shown by their students and their contributions back at school over recent months.

For me, this experience has been extremely rewarding. I have learned from the students about the experience they have as individuals at school and about the challenges we all face as a collective community. The feedback from the students was very positive and their reflections on leadership and representation were thoughtful and insightful. Everyone in the electorate of Lalor can be very proud of their students' contributions. I look forward to the next forum. (Time expired)

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