Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 13 November to 16 November 2023 is 'Youth Voice in Parliament Week'; and

(b) the prompt of the 2023 Youth Voice in Parliament Week is 'What change would make Australia a better place for future generations?';

(2) acknowledges our responsibility for protecting the interests of future generations of Australians; and

(3) calls on the Government to consider opportunities to further engage with future generations across all areas of Government policy to secure our nation's long-term prosperity.

There's an air of excitement in the halls this week. November 13 to 16 marks Youth Voice in Parliament Week, which kicks off this week in Canberra. This year, the question is asked: what change would make Australia a better place for future generations? It seems apt for me to share the voice of one young northern Tasmanian who has answered this question. Hazel Doyle was the Bass winner of the Raise Our Voice competition last year and has again submitted a fantastic piece worth raising here today. Fourteen-year-old Hazel says:

What would make Australia a better place for future generations is improvement in the awareness of youth in Australian politics (to an appropriate degree). This would also provide better youth inclusivity in parliament. Not just older youth, for example 18 or 19 year olds, but younger youth as well, like 12 or 13 year olds. As a young person myself, I know that until I got involved with the Raise Our Voice program, I didn't think about our government or decisions being made, or the impact that might have in my future. I wasn't even aware about anything going on and I know the same is true for my friends and other children in similar age groups.

I was told politics was an 'adult thing' and I should not know or talk about it. However, I strongly disagree with that. I think it's very important to make politics and decisions in parliament that impact youth a more common topic to discuss with young people. This would help us to know what is going on in our country, the country we will inherit, and the decisions that will impact us growing up. This will also help us have a more informed perspective and understanding of our country as soon as we turn 18 and are allowed to vote. This means our input through voting is better educated. I believe that this can be achieved by creating political news stories, through a magazine for example that comes from our government, about political decisions that impact youth and are appropriate for youth. We could also make this a more talked about topic in schools, a place that shapes us as people, by encouraging the watching of the show BTN and encouraging conversations about mentioned topics on BTN in class.

Overall, Australian youth needs to be better informed and generally aware about politics that impact them to give us a better educated understanding of our future, especially 18 year olds when it's a first for them being able to vote and have a real say in our future.

What Hazel has outlined in her speech is supported by what I hear when I'm out in my electorate, particularly when I head out to schools, where I'm fortunate to engage in some no-holds-barred Q&A sessions with students. Just a few weeks ago, I was at St Anthony's Catholic School in the West Tamar area, and a student asked me if I thought the voting age should be lowered to 16. The response I gave to the student is also worth sharing today. Lowering the voting age brings a number of complexities and challenges that would need to be worked through. I believe that elected representatives across all levels of government need to engage more deeply with our constituents who do not yet have the privilege of voting. We should be encouraging discussions, feedback and ideas from under-18s and taking these views to Canberra, just as we would for anyone in our electorate of voting age. It's our responsibility to show that their voices are heard and that their views do matter.

I've always spoken out against the notion of creating policy for the short-term electoral cycle, looking beyond to create and enable policies that will deliver long-term solutions to some of the issues that are most concerning our young people today, from climate change to housing affordability, education access and intergenerational equality. With a passion for and a focus on long-term prosperity for the youth of today, I was proud to co-form the Parliamentary Friends for Future Generations group with the member for Mackellar and the member for Swan. Our multipartisan group acknowledges our responsibility to protect the interests of future generations of Australia, and the group brings together representatives from the private, public and social sectors to advance how Australia might best protect its future generations. There are many evidence-based examples from around the world to look to.

I call on the government to take a whole-of-government approach to consider the needs of future generations and I also encourage colleagues in the House and the Senate to join us tomorrow night for an end-of-year symposium at which we will also launch the intergenerational fairness coalition, which is a great chance to hear compelling calls to action from a range of advocates and stakeholders for the future generations policy agenda.

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