Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The last week of parliament last year was Youth Voice in Parliament Week. The theme was 'What should Australia's new parliament accomplish?' A successful applicant for Casey is Caity Richards, aged 19:

Hello everyone and thank you so much for the opportunity to let me talk about what Australia's Parliament should accomplish, looking through the eyes of a young person, navigating our way in today's fast paced and challenging environment.

As a young person, I've been surrounded by many peers, leaders, and other young people who I have the pleasure of being an ambassador to.

What I hear most from my generation is that we feel like we haven't been heard or supported enough. What I mean is, when it comes to our mental health, our schooling and our community, we often get spoken over or spoken torather than letting us into the conversation.

We would like people to ask us what we want.

I believe that we need more community organisations like Tribe Monbulk Youth, with better funding. Easier access and more services to help with young people experiencing issues with mental health.

We want to be involved and together we can really change the way young people seek support and services from health to social services to financial and to wellbeing services.

When a Government listens and asks us what we want to see regarding issues that affect us, we feel heard and supported and there are better outcomes for young people. We would like open and honest conversations.

We would like the new parliament to consider young voices when forming legislation around issues that affect youth in 2022 and beyond.

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