Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (19:26): (230) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Youth, and the action I seek is for the minister to join me at a meeting of the Footscray Youth Advisory Committee and meet with the students and speak to the members of that committee about the issues that matter to them. My electorate is one of the youngest in the state, and there are so many young people in Footscray who are ready to make a big contribution to Melbourne’s inner west and to Victoria as a whole. Over the last few years I have been working with students from Footscray High’s civic action and politics class to answer their questions about government and bring their policy proposals that they work on as projects to ministers and to the Parliament. Let me assure you, I have had to take some of their questions on notice – they are a very bright bunch.

This year I have also created the Footscray Youth Advisory Committee, made up of students from a range of schools across the inner west. FYAC, as it has become better known, has met twice a month to discuss issues that matter most to young people in the inner west. I would like to assure the entire chamber that, in the words of a band from long before they were born, the kids are all right. They are more than all right. They are bright, they are caring, they are community-minded and they are ready to be brought into the tent of government and given a chance to lend their expertise to policy decisions that affect them. FYAC and my time with Footscray High’s civic action and politics class has been a wonderful experience for me and hopefully for the students. I am very proud to acknowledge Bridget, Raysid, Imogen, Oliver, Taihan, Wallace, Mohamed, Angela, and Amal from FYAC and thank them for their contribution so far. I am very excited to see where they take the committee and what projects they decide to undertake for the betterment of our community, and I look forward to the Minister for Youth visiting and meeting with them.