Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know there are so many other portfolio matters that could be talked about in relation to the budget but we do not always get a chance to mention some of the important things that happen in our electorate. I am very keen to have the opportunity to do this here today because it relates to the excellent work of the Parliamentary Education Office, that have just last week conducted a fantastic training program in my electorate. We were extremely lucky to have them agree to come and do an outreach program in my electorate. We had over 1,200 children, mostly grade 5s and 6s, who went through the program.

I know that you, Mr Deputy Speaker Causley, and other members here have had students who have travelled to Canberra and had the benefit of the office’s fantastic training skills and the role-play which gets the kids to be the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, the shadow health minister and the health minister and to debate a bill. They did that at Victoria University. They debated a bill, which they had prepared, about type 2 diabetes. The bill was about $500 million being spent in a particular way. They had to argue for and against it. Some of them had put in enormous amounts of research and made very detailed statements. Others maybe put in less research on the topic but had done a lot of research about how many of us might behave in the parliament and had all of the actions and antics—some of which we would not encourage, but others of which kept their colleagues very entertained. It was a fantastic learning experience for the students.

Many of these students cannot come to Canberra because of the cost—not of getting into the parliament but of getting here, the travel and the overnight stay. I am very pleased that there have been some changes so that students who travel from Melbourne get a small contribution. That was the result of a lot of campaigning by many people but it still is not sufficient for many of the schools to be able to visit Canberra as part of their educational program. The office coming to the electorate gave a huge range of students a new opportunity. They absolutely loved it. I am sure that among those students there are people who have become interested in politics and daily affairs and what happens in our parliaments and governments around the country in a way that they would not have been without this work.

I wanted to say a particular thank you to Rick and Erin from the Parliamentary Education Office, who were fantastic. I wish that there was more funding available for them to do more of these outreach programs across the country. I was particularly delighted that Victoria University agreed to participate because it meant that one of the sessions had all of the undergraduate teachers there to see how these methods worked and to see how the children actually lit up with the idea of being able to be in a role-play. It is something to which we have exposed not just the students but the next generation of teachers as well. I want to put on the record very firmly my thanks for the great work that the Parliamentary Education Office have done. (Time expired)