7TH COMMONWEALTH YOUTH PARLIAMENT
and was thankful for a very civilised parliament.
While I was in the Chair the youth parliament considered the Charter of Human Rights Bill during debate and on the following day amendments were proposed during a committee of the whole stage.
A very interesting aspect of the debate was that the government was promoting the passage of a bill that had been introduced by the previous government when the now government members were in opposition. This resulted in some interesting matters being raised by members, however the bill passed the following day after reasoned amendments were made and the youth parliamentarians provided compelling reasons for their positions in both the debate and the detailed scrutiny process. By mid-week the youth parliamentarians were hungry for the Secretary-General’s official dinner which was hosted on Wednesday evening by our colleagues from the CPA Secretariat and held in our dining room at Parliament House. A fun night was had
where youth parliamentarians rebuilt some of the fractured relationships which had emerged during the more heated political machinations of the earlier proceedings in the day.
Day Four - Question Time and the Media
By day four, delegates were ready for Question Time before returning to conclude the third reading debate on the bill. Question Time was
characterised by matters which will be familiar for many readers of The Parliamentarian as many of these issues are raised from time to time and sometimes daily as we go about our normal business of representing constituents.
The matters raised were:
population turnover; high cost of living; indigenous literacy rates, road traffic caused by a lack of infrastructure; backlogs of cases in the judicial system; carbon emissions, remote location education; marriage equality; transgender discrimination; healthcare; mental illness and indigenous health matters. Points of order were raised concerning relevance or lack thereof and the use of disorderly words. The transcripts for the proceedings of CYP7 may be found at the Northern Territory Parliament website.
During the course of the week, the youth parliamentarians were made available for media interviews with local journalists attending some of the early sessions and the Darwin radio station from the Australian Broadcasting Corperation (ABC) conducted a live interview with the Youth Chief Minister and Youth Leader of the Opposition in their studio midway through the week to give listeners an update on how CYP7 was proceeding.
On the final afternoon of the CYP7 programme, we invited a local representative of the media, Ms Alyssa Betts a senior reporter for ABC television and a former journalist for the daily newspaper
the Northern Territory News and Ms Lorelei Fong Lim, the Media Advisor to the Northern Territory Minister for the Environment, Sport, Recreation and the Arts to participate on a panel to discuss parliamentarians, politicians and the media.
This session was very well received and we were very privileged for a senior ministerial staff member and a senior practising journalist to spend so much time with the youth parliamentarians providing candid views and stories of experiences thus allowing the youth parliamentarians to make excellent use of the session. CYP7 was a very fulfilling experience, not just for the youth parliamentarians but also for the mentors, our invited guests from the media, academia, the legal community and the Northern Territory Government who assisted with the programme and also for the Clerk; his Deputy Clerk, Ms Marianne Conaty; the First Clerk Assistant, Mr Russell Keith and the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly’s Serjeant at Arms, Mr Ben Harris who worked closely with his colleague officers of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and our colleagues at the CPA Secretariat in the UK,
Commonwealth Youth Parliament in the chamber of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory, Australia.
Above: Participants at the 7th
especially Ms Arlene Bussette, to bring together a rich and rewarding event.
While we are a small
parliament of only 25 members, with the help of the CPA Secretariat and so many others, we welcomed and watched flourish a truly dynamic group of young dedicated people. My thanks to all our mentors for their dedication and hard work in ensuring that participation was at a constantly high level and providing tips and pointers on debate, political matters, and parliamentary procedure. Of course I must thank the youth parliamentarians themselves who brought so much energy and intelligence along with their enthusiasm. I hope our experience in the Northern Territory of Australia will encourage other jurisdictions to host future Commonwealth Youth Parliaments as I can guarantee an overwhelmingly positive experience will be had by all. Just let me know, and I will be happy to help.
The Parliamentarian | 2016: Issue One | 55
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