Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Almost 60 per cent of young Australians feel that the biggest barrier to getting involved in politics is, 'Feeling like they won't be listened to.' And 52 per cent of young people feel that they have a say in public affairs none of the time. There's more than one thing wrong with the conduct of federal politics in this country at the moment, and anyone who has seen politics in parliament over the last few weeks knows how toxic and dire some of the debate has become. But if we don't do something to change the fact that 60 per cent of young Australians feel that they won't be listened to and 52 per cent of young people feel that they have a say none of the time in public affairs then we're not going to be able to change the nature of politics and debate in this country and we're at risk of having another generation of people who see those of us in this place as not representing them. It means that the big challenges that we face in this country and in the world that the young people that I meet across my electorate are engaged in, are passionate about and care about won't be addressed. You can't go to a school in Dunkley and talk to young people without them raising climate change, without them asking me: why do we have a government that has people in that don't think climate change is real; why do we have a government that won't commit to legislating net zero by 2050; and why do we have a government that attacks us when we have the temerity to exercise our democratic rights and go and protest to ask them to act on climate change?

I don't have answers for the students who raise those concerns with me because I don't understand why we have a government that takes those positions either and that doesn't seem to care about the future of the young people and children of this country but only seems to care about whether or not it will get re-elected at the next election. So, is it any wonder that the young people in this country despair and look at politics as being about power, getting and keeping power, rather than doing good things. It has to become about doing good things, and the more we can support our youth to be involved, to have their voices heard, to feel like we care about them and their issues, not just about their vote, the closer we will come to being able to address some of those big issues.

We can't despair, because there are some amazing young people. In the last 18 months alone, while we've been through a global pandemic and lockdown, I've had these young people wanting to come and do work experience and be interns in my office because they want to be part of something that will build a better future. Joseph Levett, Luka Pajic, Eilish Salmon, Monica Galovic, Kate Eadie, Lucy Skelton, Ysobel O’Brien, Patrick Stephenson, Alexander Nancarrow, Giovanni Costanzo, Shahd Alkaabi, just to name a few, need their voices heard.

Do you know who also need their voices heard? The young people who don't have the wherewithal, the confidence or the opportunity to contact their federal member and say, 'Can I do work experience in your office?' They're the young people who need Labor's policy of a dedicated office for youth. They're the young people who need a government that says, 'We know that you are leaving school in circumstances where wages have been stagnant for the longest period in Australia's history and real wages are going backward. We know that you care about the environment and are desperate to see something happen. We know that you're entering a jobs market where, sure, there might be jobs but there are two million Australians already who need either work or more work because casual and insecure work has become the norm in our country. We know that the cost of living has been skyrocketing. We know that, because of COVID, when you've been trying to finish your education you've also dealt with isolation, mental health issues and loneliness. We know all of these things and we know that what you need is a holistic, dedicated approach to harnessing your energy, your capabilities and your opportunities and supporting you to overcome your challenges but also hearing your voices.' And that's what you'll get from a federal Labor government, but not the current one.

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