Annie Oliver - Youth Parliament

During Semester 1 of this year, I was given the privilege of participating in the Y's Youth Parliament program in NSW, as one of two Honourable Members for Blue Mountains. In the April school holidays, I went to the YMCA camp at Yarramundi to train at  As a committee, we decided to write about the implementation of the Y's Alternative Suspension program. The Alternative Suspension program is a program that focuses on breaking the cycle of suspensions and really finding solutions for the students of which our education system isn't catered to. After the sponsors wrote the bill, it was the refuters turn to amend the bill. My amendment focuses on integrating education surrounding behaviour management for various demographics into current NESA mandated teacher professional development and limiting the impact of this bill's implementation on teacher workloads. Through the process, my committee got to talk to some pretty cool experts and I got to consult the amazing Brenda Quayle from Real Schools. She got to share so much of her experience as a principal in the Western Sydney area and where she thinks the flaws in the education system are, providing invaluable insight into our bill and how we can make it the best it possibly can. After much anticipation (and some trash talking across party lines), in the first week of the July holidays, we were off to Youth Parliament! We got to stay at the amazing Dunmore Lang College in Macquarie University, staying in the dorms that the students would usually stay in. After a fantastic talent show on Monday night, we were off and raring to go on Tuesday. We started the Parliamentary experience with a beautiful opening ceremony in the Upper House, hearing from several cool people including the CEO of the YMCA NSW, then we moved on over to the Lower House to debate the National Matter of Importance, which was about breaking up monopolies and duopolies (eg Woolies and Coles) in order to increase competition which inherently decreases prices, alleviating cost of living pressures a little bit. During the open floor, I got up and talked about how breaking up these powers will create greater connection between supermarkets and their community as well as with producers, and about how this will create local jobs and long term domestic efficiency. This was a new experience for me as one of the few people in Parliament who isn't a debater or a public speaker, meaning that it was a really big moment that I'm still very proud of. After the National MPI, my committee (The Education & Training Committee) was first up for debates. As second speaker for the refuters and fourth speaker overall, I got to come up with a couple rebuttals while also getting to stick to my own speech. After an amazing debate, our bill and the amendments were passed pretty much unanimously which was really exciting. On Wednesday, we got the honour of going to Government House to be introduced to the Governor of NSW which was an amazing experience.Over the three days within NSW Parliament, so many issues impacting young people were debated with each of us having a personal connection to the bills and how these issues had impacted our community. We also each got to do a 1 minute Community Recognition Statement about anything we wanted, whether that was an issue in our community or something close to our hearts. I chose to speak about the pressure of being a teenage girl and how if we as a society change our mindsets just a little bit, it can make a big difference going forward. Youth Parliament is easily one of the best experiences of my life, providing me with some of the most incredible friends and teaching me how to advocate for others while still standing up for my own personal beliefs. It also gave me the opportunity to learn how to public speak and debate which are skills that I've always wanted but never had. It was truly an honour to represent both PAC and the Electorate of the Blue Mountains.
- Annie Oliver (Year 12 2024)