POTENTIAL political leaders of the future gathered last week in Parliament to present and debate bills on various issues from gaps in women’s health services addressing areas such as sexual assault and sexual health, to the establishment of new waste management systems and calling for improvements to healthcare services for Aboriginal Australians living in rural WA.
Owen Briffa, Blake Mercer and Paul Jackson respectively represented their Kalamunda, Midland and West Swan electorates in the Youth Parliament.
Owen debated a Bill for an Act to introduce online voting, require local government candidates to disclose their political and union affiliations on campaign material, require local governments conduct postal voting; reduce the frequency of local government elections to three years, reduce the term of elected local government office bearers to three years and create a pathway for local governments to apply for more state funding.
His Bill to Act debate also included reducing rewards package benefits for a local government chief executive officer and increasing benefits for elected local government office bearers.
Blake, representing the Midland electorate, debated a Bill for an Act to introduce regulations to address artificial intelligence and impacts associated with its use, while Paul, representing West Swan, debated a Bill for an Act to improve healthcare services for Aboriginal Australians living in rural areas of Western Australia.
The Youth Parliament is a six-month leadership program culminating in the group presenting and debating the bills they wrote, aiming to empower youth to participate in democratic processes and offering experience in public speaking and writing legislation, based around issues they feel are most important to WA.
The eight committees for 2023 were Environment and Climate Action, Science and Innovation, Multicultural and Aboriginal Interests, Women’s Interests, Health and Mental Health, Child Protection, Electoral Affairs and Police and Justice.
Each committee researched their portfolio area and have worked together to draft a bill that tackles important issues within the policy area.
The Youth Parliament debates are overseen by real Members of Parliament including Western Australian political figures Simone McGurk and Midland MLA and Speaker Michelle Roberts.