Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm joining more than 50 of my colleagues in this place and in the other place to mark Youth Voice in Parliament Week. This is a campaign run by Raise Our Voice Australia. This organisation is encouraging young people from diverse backgrounds to participate in politics and policymaking. In the same way that our country has benefited from having more women elected to parliament, so too will we benefit from ensuring and promoting greater diversity in other areas. So I think this is a wonderful campaign, and I am very honoured to be part of it.

I'm going to share with you tonight a powerful speech written by Annabelle Thompson. Firstly, a big hello to Annabelle, her friends and her family who might be watching. Annabelle is 10 years old. She lives with her family in the electorate of Page in the Northern Rivers in New South Wales. This beautiful part of New South Wales is also where I spent my childhood, and growing up in a small town on the North Coast really helped shape my values. My neighbours, my classmates, my teachers, my friends and my sports coaches taught me a lot. They taught me about community, about acceptance and about what it takes to build a stronger, safer and fairer society, and some of these values are also visible in Annabelle's speech.

But I will let her words speak for themselves. Here we go: 'My vision for Australia in 20 years is for there to be no abuse or violence and much more equality. My name is Annabelle Thompson and I am 10 years old, and I will be 30 in 20 years. My electorate is Page, and today I will be telling you about two problems in Australia and how we can change them in the future. I would really like the people in Australia to accept the LGBTQI+ people in our community and to make sure that women and men are treated the same. This would include giving women the same payment as men and for LGBTQI+ people to be accepted for who they are and who they want to be. Having more equality would mean that when I grow up and my friends grow up we can get paid well and can be who we want to be without worrying. Abuse is not nice. I'm sure you wouldn't want it to happen to any of your friends, family members and pets. There are many forms of abuse, including animal abuse, domestic violence and cyberbullying. In 2020, one in five kids have been cyberbullied, one in four women experience domestic violence and, lastly, up to 60,000 cases of animal abuse have been reported. People should be jailed for abuse or fined a lot of money. Having no abuse when I am older would be great, because I will be safe, my children will be safe and so will my pets. This is my vision for Australia in 20 years, and hopefully most of it comes true.'

Thank you, Annabelle, and congratulations on your vision, which is so obviously born of a deep compassion and respect for the people who live around you and your community. I hope all that comes true too.