Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago, I joined primary school students from Canberra and authors Beck and Robin Feiner to launch their book If I Was Prime Ministerpublished by ABC Books. To commemorate the launch of the book, I also held a competition in my electorate of Cowan, asking students in year 5 to submit their entries on what they would do if they were Prime Minister. I'm looking forward to going through the entries we've had and being inspired by young minds and their ideas for a better Australia—ideas like this one, from Esme, who says: 'If I was Prime Minister, I'd make sure half our leaders were girls. That would be much more fair.' What a great idea from young Esme. Perhaps the LNP might want to meet with her to get some advice. Then there is this one from Teddy, who says: 'If I was Prime Minister, I'd make sure that every time you lost a tooth the tooth fairy gave a little money to you and a little bit to people who need it more.' What an amazing insight into fairness and the distribution of wealth exhibited by Teddy. There are many more insightful contributions, like the one from Wilbur, who says he would find ways to stop the pollution so we can protect our seas and the air we breathe. My personal favourite is this one from Arev, who says that if he were Prime Minister, he would invite all leaders of all countries down to Australia, 'To jump on my trampoline and eat cupcakes and, after that, we'd definitely all be friends.' Ah! Cupcake and trampoline diplomacy—fantastic!

On Monday, I was super excited to welcome not one but two schools all the way from Cowan to Parliament House: Wanneroo Primary and Kingsway Christian College were in the House. The year 6 class from Kingsway Christian College were equally engaged and interested in what life is like for members of parliament, asking questions about my daily routine, how we make decisions that impact on them and where I stay when I'm here. I'm looking forward to seeing them again when I attend their graduation later this year.

Too often we underestimate young people. We dismiss their ideas and their voices. We argue that they don't have free will and that they can't possibly have anything positive or constructive to contribute. But I disagree. In my experience, even people as young as 10 do have something to contribute. Often, their contributions are more insightful and more intelligent than some of the things I hear adults say. There's more that we could do as parliamentarians to listen and engage our youth. Of course, we don't literally have to implement their ideas of cupcakes and trampolines—although it is tempting—but if we look beyond the literal and delve into the meaning behind these ideas, we find a generation of young Australians that is engaged with complex concepts and values like equality, climate change and wealth distribution. These are concepts and values that go to the very heart of what we do here in this place in the pursuit of a better future for our nation.

And if I were Prime Minister, what would I do? I'd probably start by making this a place where everyone has a voice, even 10-year-olds.