Young voices in the house

FEDERATION College students have experienced what it’s like to be a State politician on Spring Street, participating in The YMCA Victorian Youth Parliament.

Six local young people including year 11 VCAL student Alex Simmonds had an opportunity to virtually share their views surrounding issues they’re passionate about, and received mentoring, public speaking and leadership training from The Y Ballarat in the lead-up.

“Youth Parliament is about giving youth an opportunity to learn about how parliament runs and how to create and debate bills in a Parliament House format,” Alex said.

“I found youth parliament to be a great experience, enhancing my skills in public speaking, as well as developing a legible bill. I also found it to be a great learning experience to see how Parliament runs.

“It is important to give youth a say in new laws and bills, as it’s them who are going to be most affected in the future.”

The bill Alex developed was designed to improve regional Victorian public transport. He explored this area because he is aware of the population growth in places such as Ballarat, and how this has an impact on the way the community travels.

“This is important. Lots of people from Melbourne are moving to regional areas due to the past COVID restrictions, which increases the strain on the bus system.

“Our bill had some different ideas on how public transport could be improved, including having bus routes that cover rural areas, increasing bus capacity during peak times, and improved GPS tracking on buses,” he said.

Transitioning into year 12, Alex said he’s currently focused on his studies, but he’s got a long-term goal to be a lifelong changemaker.