by Bonnie Collings
Two local students travelled to Canberra recently to participate in the 30th annual National Schools Constitutional Convention.
Warragul Regional College year 12 student Georgia Hickmott and Marist-Sion College year 11 student Kashya Saunders were among 119 senior student delegates from around the nation who participated in the three day convention in March.
The National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC) is part of the Australian Government Civics and Citizenship Education program. Held annually, the NSCC event provides year 11 and 12 students from across Australia an opportunity to explore and debate the Australian Constitution.
This year's topic was "Revisiting Sections 51ii and 90 to Reimagine Australia's Fiscal Federalism".
Both completing units three and four legal studies this year, Georgia and Kashya said participating in the convention gave them the chance to further their knowledge and discover new areas of interest in Australian law and politics.
"I've always known I wanted to law or something around politics, this experience has strengthened that," Georgia said. "I'd been questioning it a bit before, but I think now I know that's definitely what I want to do."
"It made me want to go into law more, specifically the accounting side because of all the economic terms that we learnt," Kashya said.
Throughout the convention, Georgia and Kashya heard from a range of keynote speakers before discussing in small groups with students from different states whether sections 51(ii) and 90 of the constitution should be amended to allow the Australian Federation to maintain national priorities while embracing new regional economic possibilities.
After considering input from speakers and discussing the main issues in working groups, the students voted in a mock referendum managed by the Australian Electoral Commission. The majority of students and the majority of states and territories agreed on "no" to both questions:
Question 1: To alter S.51(ii) of the Constitution to omit the words: "but so as not to discriminate between States or parts of States.
Question 2: To alter the Constitution to allow States to impose a tax on goods after their production and manufacture but only in a way that does not discriminate against goods from other States.
The outcome of the referendum was incorporated into a communiqué presented to Senate President Senator Sue Lines for inclusion in Hansard.
Knowing the work they had done and the opinions they'd presented would be passed on to parliament, Georgia and Kashya said they were glad the opinions of young Australians were being valued.
"A lot of politicians are part of an older community, it's nice that we can see there are actually youth having a voice and they (politicians) are allowing for that to happen, and knowing that they actually want to hear these ideas," Georgia said. "It made it feel like what were doing was more important."
"It was like our opinion actually matters," Kashya added.
In addition to the discussion and debates, during the convention the students were able to sit in on question time in Parliament House, had a meeting with Governor General Sam Mostyn at Government House, an official dinner at the National Press Club and the opportunity to listen to the budget speech.
Georgia and Kashya said being in Canberra during budget week and the lead into the federal election was a highlight.
"I really liked being there to hear the budget speech, you don't get to hear something like that every day," Georgia said.
"Going to the Governor General's house was pretty interesting," Kashya added. "It was really cool because she represents the King, and she was looking at us."