Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise to make a statement today on an issue that I've been quite passionate about since my election to this place a couple of years ago, and that's the issue of civics education, particularly for younger Tasmanians. It's something I've been doing a bit of work on in my home state, engaging with students from various schools across the state. As I've stated previously, it's something I'm committed to doing my bit to assist in, in spreading the word about the importance of engagement in and understanding of our democratic institutions, state, federal and local; why it's important to take advantage of the ability to participate in democracy; the role of government; and what having your say can actually do. That is the great thing about democracy in this country.

One of the things I've done in Tasmania is to sponsor a private scholarship for residents of a residential college in Hobart, Jane Franklin Hall, which is a great institution. That scholarship is aimed at supporting students who have an interest in governance, democracy and public administration. The funds that I contribute towards that go towards supporting the cost of living for students who want to do some work in this space. This year I was pleased to be able to award the scholarship to a young fellow by the name of Mr Perry Smith, who was awarded the scholarship because of his interest in politics and public administration. Perry has had a very positive experience. He's gained real insights, having served a small period of time in my office and participated in the work of an electorate office. As I'm sure all senators would agree, it's great to get people in to see what the offices of parliamentarians do and to get an understanding of the big issues we deal with—the things we come here to debate but also the issues we work with members of the community on so people understand exactly what the role of a parliamentarian is. I look forward to working with Perry into the future on the piece of work I've asked him to undertake, something I'll be talking about in this place a little later on.

Seeing young people engaged in politics and in understanding the political process and the power that it has is something that, as I say, I'm very passionate about. It's my belief that civics education should be a part of every child's education, not just a tack-on and not just an elective that a teacher may or may not feel is important for their students to engage in. It is a bit ad hoc in Tasmania. There have been some classes that do it. Some schools have a great program of interaction and education in this space, but it's by no means across the board. I'm sure many of us have had an interaction with someone. You'll introduce yourself and say what you do, and they might ask, 'Well, what's a senator?' It's concerning when an Australian who's been voting for 20-odd years may not know what a senator is—that it's a member of the Australian parliament—or what they do. I think that, given we have this wonderful thing called a democracy where we can all have our say and have an influence over the outcome of an election in the interests of what we believe is right or wrong, we should be educating people about what they're voting on. Of course, civics education helps educate our future leaders about engagement, about understanding issues and working with communities, and about understanding the power of a place like this and the other place, or whichever form of civic institution they wish to be engaged with.

Recently I had the good fortune and privilege of visiting two schools in Tasmania in the beautiful town of New Norfolk, just north of the city of Hobart. I was able to visit New Norfolk Primary School and Fairview Primary School, both schools that have civics engagement programs to varying degrees, in which I was pleased to be able to participate. I was pleased to come and talk to grade 5 and 6 students at New Norfolk Primary, as an extension to their civics education program, about the role of parliament, democracy and the history of our federation, and test them on their knowledge as well. I was impressed by the level of knowledge demonstrated in answer to many of those questions. It was also impressive to learn what issues were important to students in these schools. The issues raised were ones you would probably hear from older, voting-age adult Australians. They weren't about cartoons or comic books; they were issues such as a well-functioning health system, hospital waiting lists, a good standard of education, proper roads and highways, and law and order.

It's not bad for a bunch of students who are nine-, 10- or 11-year-olds to identify issues like those as things they feel strongly about. Despite the fact that these students may not be as articulate or eloquent as someone who's 30, 40 or 50 years old, these students had a good handle on these important issues. I commend the school for having a civics education program to engage children on issues that are going to affect their futures, but it's also encouraging to see that households are taking these issues seriously. Dinner table conversations turn to issues like the ones the students identified. As I said, it's important because these children are our next generation of leaders and decision-makers. I can see that those students have a good handle on these issues, understand what needs to happen and have a great capacity to identify what's important to them. I thank the staff and the students I met with at New Norfolk Primary School for hosting me and engaging in civics education in this way.

Following on from that my day only got better, because I went to Fairview Primary School, as I mentioned before, and was able to have a meeting with their student leadership group, generally focused on questions about the qualities of a good leader or a good representative. I wanted to understand what they believed the qualities of a good leader to be. They identified things like being an effective communicator, being able to listen and show empathy, and being a role model amongst your peers in your community by setting an example, caring and helping other people. While they were talking about those qualities in their context as student leaders, they also identified them as qualities that we as community leaders and as members of the Australian parliament should be emulating, and they are absolutely right. It was also a chance for them to ask a number of other questions about the role of a senator, how the Australian parliament works—and some personal questions: 'What does your family think about what you do? Do you see your kids?' One question caught me by surprise: 'Do you believe in unicorns?' They have challenged me to disprove that. I'm still working on it.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What did you tell them?

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said that I remained to be convinced, Senator Urquhart, but we'll see. They've given me until the end of the year to get back to them on that one. There were questions about motivation: 'Why do you do what you do? Why do you engage?' That was the most interesting part of the conversation. I turned the question back on those student leaders at Fairview Primary: 'Why did you put your hands up to be student leaders? Why did you volunteer to be a leader of your year group or class?' It was interesting to understand their motivations. All of them fundamentally wanted to leave their school community, which has been a big part of their life for so long now, in a better place than when they arrived. They wanted to leave a project that would improve Fairview Primary for the year groups that come after them. I thought that was commendable.

Senators or members often refer to similar motivations in first speeches or in interviews as to why they came to this place. Again, it's great to see young people highlighting what is effectively very selfless and community-minded motivation as the reason they would put their hands up to give up their lunchbreak to serve lunch to other kids, to come in early to help out with the breakfast club, to help out at the local nursing home, and things like that. It was wonderful to see that sort of selfless motivation. The student leadership group also talked about the wonderful project that they're doing for their year group, which I'm sure they'll be announcing to their peers in the near future. Again, it's about that legacy and making sure that the generations after them that come through that school have a better schooling experience.

At the end of the day, for me, it is really about seeing an improved and broader application of civics education in Australian schools. I'm pleased to see what New Norfolk Primary and Fairview Primary are doing, and I thank and commend the students for their engagement. But I would love to see more of it, and I'm hoping I'll see more of it in Tasmanian primary schools in the near future.