Fresh perspectives on parliament

It’s the first in a four-part series of short films aimed at connecting young people to parliament, produced by the Parliament of Victoria in partnership with youth social enterprise Youthworx. The ‘Welcome to Parliament’ series is a fresh take on parliament, providing information on all the essentials whilst encouraging young people to get involved.

On their video tour, Cathy and Isaac marvel at the exquisite architecture of Parliament House and its stunning gardens. But the focus is on the function of the building as the home of democracy in our state. While explaining how a bill is passed and the role of MPs, our hosts also try on the Premier’s chair for size, pose for a portrait amongst those of past Premiers and may even have uncovered some rumoured tunnels under Parliament House. Or did they? You’ll have to tune in to see.

The second video sees Bol Mayan take the viewer through the main ways to get involved in parliamentary processes. He explains how to contact your local MP, the role of committee inquiries and how to support existing petitions or create your own. He also talks about parliament's various engagement activities available to young people.

Young people can’t be what they can’t see, so the third in the series showcases Flynn, Michael, Chelsea and Liam, four young Victorians who have involved themselves in the work of parliament.

Fourteen-year-old Flynn Megahan delivered an impassioned entry to the Parliament Prize competition, highlighting the perils of a dangerous road crossing in his area. His message resulted in a favourable outcome with the two councils bordering the crossing collaborating to install a set of traffic lights. ‘You might think that because you’re a young person your voice isn’t heard. I thought the same thing too before I made this video and look what’s happened. Action was taken and that’s great,’ says Flynn.

Michael Garang speaks about his time working at parliament as a youth associate. He used sport to connect young people and MPs, organising a basketball tournament that brought the community in touch with their local representatives. Reflecting on his time with parliament, he says: ‘It was a very successful program. A lot of people came to the event, and they really enjoyed doing the basketball tournament.’

Chelsea Daniel participated in the inaugural Parliament Express program, which was an opportunity for young writers to receive training and mentoring as they each produced a feature article about parliament on a topic of their choice. ‘I chose specifically MPs on TikTok and the idea of TikTok as a news source for young people,’ says Chelsea.

Liam Flaherty contributed to discussion around cannabis law reform by attending a committee youth forum on the topic. ‘We sat down in workshop groups with different MPs, groups of young Victorians, and it was really nice to sort of hear different perspectives and hear different ideas,’ says Liam.

To round out the series, young people were invited to Parliament House for a chance to have their say about how parliament can best engage them. They proposed a range of initiatives including a youth advisory forum, a video game based on parliament and more activities and programs that open Parliament House up to young people.

When asked what their dream parliament looks like, one focus group participant says: ‘My dream parliament would be one that is inclusive of gender, cultural background and language so that people don’t feel put off by coming to a place like this, or people feel like if they go to parliament they are represented and heard and feel valued and included.’

With over a million young Victorians in our state, the Victorian Parliament is committed to finding new and contemporary ways to engage with young people. The Welcome to Parliament series, created by young people for young people. is one example of this commitment. You can watch all four short films in the series on parliament’s YouTube channel.