Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

One of the things that I enjoy most about being a member of parliament is having the great privilege of visiting schools in my electorate and then meeting again with students when they come to Parliament House for their Canberra trip. I have 66 schools in my electorate. They are all different, and yet they are all doing their utmost to educate our next generation.

For our children and young people, nothing quite brings our nation's story more alive than visiting our capital and spending time in our parliament. I am passionate about civic education. It is why I chose to nominate to be a member on the Parliamentary Education Office advisory committee. Visiting Parliament House makes the lessons of our civic history tangible and relevant to how we live our lives as Australians. It engages our young people in the political process; however, I am concerned that, of the students coming to Canberra in the next month, less than one per cent will be from low-SES schools, disadvantaged schools—that is, schools with an SES lower than 800.

The My School website shows that, of the 248 schools scheduled to visit parliament between 22 May and 23 June this year, 80 per cent will be above average on the socioeconomic index and approximately 34 per cent will be significantly above the socioeconomic average. As I said before, less than one per cent, so 0.82 per cent, of those schools will be from disadvantaged areas. It also makes it incredibly challenging for schools from regional areas to come to Canberra. Calculations made, as the crow flies, do not show the true distance of schools that are trying to come here. We all know that there are very few direct roads to Canberra, and certainly very few direct flights.

Of the 66 schools in Mayo, 18 will be coming here this year, and they receive just $60 per student in federal support. This is not enough if you are from a low-SES area or if you are from a remote region, like Kangaroo Island in my electorate. Those children have never had the opportunity to come to Canberra to visit our nation's capital. We need to find a fairer funding mechanism to help bring our disadvantaged young people to our nation's capital. We need this because democracy needs this, and it is important that we engage with young people. It encourages them to take part in our politics. As I heard a senator say to a group of young people last year, you can choose not to be interested in politics, but you cannot choose to be unaffected by it.

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