The 30th annual Y WA Youth Parliament was held last week with 58 people from across WA representing the state’s electorates in a mock parliament to pass bills.
Camillo teen Yizhen Pu was selected to debate last week as the representative for the Armadale electorate.
Miss Pu said this year’s event was the first one she had been involved in.
“I thought the Y WA Youth Parliament program would be an amazing opportunity to learn skills which could potentially enable me to realise my ideas for change in my community,” she said.
“I wanted to meet like-minded young people and be exposed to new ideas and issues.”
The Youth Parliament helps participants develop their political knowledge and express their views in a way that mimics the government’s processes.
Although Miss Pu said she didn’t know much about parliament beyond the basics learnt at school, she thought the program would be a good way to discover which areas of government she was interested in.
“My first goal is to improve my public speaking, debate and teamwork skills. I hope to be a more comfortable and confident person by the end of the program,” Miss Pu said.
“My other goal is to learn more about the process of making real change in communities. I hope to be an active citizen and a change maker in my community.
“I believe it is very important that we take interest and responsibility for our future. We must communicate our needs and share our views.
“Young people have many innovative ideas and present new perspectives on old problems. Older generations need to listen to young people and take our views into account.
“There are many big problems in the world and decisions made now will impact us well into the future.”
Minister for Youth Hannah Beazley also attended the youth parliament and said the event was a unique opportunity for young people to have their voices heard.
“For three decades the Y WA’s Youth Parliament has provided a launch pad for some of our State’s brightest young leaders,” she said.
“Youth Parliament is an incredible showcase of young people’s capabilities as they debate and craft their own innovative solutions to the big issues facing our State, with some of their ideas going on to shape real legislation.
“Importantly, Youth Parliament continues to become more accessible and diverse each year, bringing together 58 young people this year, with different perspectives and experiences from across Western Australia.”
Eight bills were discussed in the parliament with eight different committees made up of the 58 students representing the electorates.
Also from the local areas, Shardul Jogdand from Bentley represented the Forrestfield electorate, Chanchala Rajapakse from Kenwick was selected as the Cannington electorate representative, Thi Nguyen from Byford represented the Murray Wellington electorate, Mehela Ram from Oakford represented the same electorate, and Ananya Sachidanandan from Canning Vale represented the Rockingham electorate.
