Parliament comes to Pleasant Street

PLEASANT Street Primary School year 5 and 6 students welcomed Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Milton Dick to their hall last week. Accompanied by Ballarat MP Catherine King, the Speaker was in town as part of the Parliament in Schools program and Australian Parliament House Flag Roadshow, educating the children about his role, and what a typical day looks like in Parliament. The students took part in a vote just like members do in the house, they had their own Question Time, and unfurled a huge Australian flag the Speaker had brought with him from Canberra. The size of a double-decker bus, it usually fies above Parliament House. Dick and King (at back) are pictured with captains Thomas, Charlotte and Charlotte who had fun with a dispatch box, mace, and Serjeant and Speaker costumes. “We have 100,000 students who visit parliament each year but about one million kids who don’t… so if you can’t come to us, we’ll come to you,” Dick said. “The kids learn about our system of government, democracy and how lucky we are to live in Australia with some good democratic and institutional principals.” Photo: Edwina Williams.