Helena Abdou
A team of young people from Hume had the opportunity to attend the annual YMCA Youth Parliament Program, providing them with a platform to speak up about issues they’re passionate about.
Participants spent time in committees developing bills, and then attended a week-long camp during which the legislation and other motions were debated in the state parliament.
The group of four comprised locals from Craigieburn and Sunbury and first got together in February to brainstorm their idea, settling on gambling.
Hume youth parliament team member, Dinuki Rajapaksha said they decided on the topic as it was a problem area within the municipality.
“The LGA has a lot of trouble with gambling, we have one of the highest losses in the state,” Ms Rajapaksha said.
“We kind of realised that there were gaps here and there [in the legislation] and most of the time gambling corporations were kind of exempt from the existing rules.”
Ms Rajapaksha was the main sponsor of the bill, responsible for introducing it to the chamber.
“Our bill proposed an alteration of language and themes surrounding gambling advertising, extending current gambling advertising regulations to social media platforms, assembling a Regulation of Victorian Gambling Services Commission to investigate political donations made by the gambling industry and mandating age verification on online gambling apps.”
During the camp, they were trained, participated in mock debates, selected their chamber leaders and held chamber meetings.
The sitting week was held at the end of June, where they attended parliament and debated the bill, which passed the legislative council and gained assent from the Youth Governor.
Ms Rajapaksha encourages other young people to get involved and have their voices heard.
“It’s an amazing learning experience. I remember during our rec activities they always mentioned going out of your comfort zone is your learning zone and I think that was a really good thing to mention,” she said.
“If you’re passionate about a topic, an issue that’s affecting you, speak out about it.
“You get to meet other young people. I’ve connected with other young people from different council areas, which I wouldn’t have done if I didn’t go to this program.”
