Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Youth Voice in Parliament Week is a great opportunity to hear from Australian youth about the issues that are important to them. Thank you to Raise Our Voice Australia, which has created the opportunity for these strong and passionate voices to be heard and amplified. The policies and decisions that our government makes today will have a longstanding effect on future generations. Young people are the custodians of the future—we need to hear their views.

Issues that are top of mind for young people include the environment and climate change, mental health, and equity and discrimination. Young people have long been at the forefront of change, taking to the streets and getting involved in campaigns. Young adults are also enthusiastic about democratic and civil engagement, including volunteer work. Research in 2021 by the University of Melbourne found high levels of engagement in supporting sports clubs, helping with church services, organising charity events, providing free legal and medical advice and accounting assistance, and supporting other young people with mental health issues.

But while young people are passionate and engaged, we also know that young people's confidence and trust in political institutions and processes is low. One research study, the Our Lives project, which began in 2006 and has followed a large group of Queenslanders from adolescence into adulthood, found that participants' trust in politicians has dramatically declined. In 2006, 29 per cent of the cohort indicated that they trusted politicians—11 years later, in 2017, that number had dropped to just nine per cent. We must show that we are listening to young people so that they will re-engage with politics. The importance of this can't be overstated. Trust in government and trust in our key institutions is critical for democracy to operate effectively. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has identified trust as one of the most important foundations upon which the legitimacy and sustainability of political systems is built.

When it came to government, Labor knew that young people were feeling disaffected because their ideas and experiences were not being listened to or taken seriously by politicians. Over the past year or more, our government has worked hard to turn that around. One of the first things that Dr Anne Aly did as the Minister for Youth was re-established the federal office for youth, a unit in the Department of Education that listens to young people, that advocates, and that is improving policies across government that affect young people. Minister Aly also established a youth steering committee to advise on government policies and programs that affect young people, while five youth advisory groups have been providing advice to the government in five areas: climate change and energy; Indigenous Australians; mental health and suicide prevention; industry and science; and social services.

Tonight, it is my privilege to read a speech written by Taihan Rahman. At just 14 years old, this year-nine student from my electorate of Fraser is already making a great contribution, including being the youngest of the aforementioned 14-member youth steering committee. Taihan's interests lie in issues such as social justice, cultural discrimination and education inequality. In his speech, he speaks passionately about the need to invest in education, a theme that resonates with our government. In Taihan's words:

We the youth

We must speak up

We must shout out

For this broken system, we must have no doubt

We're in an education so flawed

That true learning is outlawed

We're being held to a frown

Shining with brilliance, but always shut down

Our rigid system often confines,

The very essence that makes our minds shine

Our education is not a finish line

It's an opportunity to refine

The knowledge and experience we need to shine

So let me say it, loud and clear

It's time to speak up

It's time to shout out

It's time to be louder

This is my plea

To all those who see and stand with me

To take a stand and demand a rebrand

Of an education drowning in quicksand

This is my plea

To the decision-makers who can see but can't act

We need action and passion, not the publicization of the 'consideration' of an

educational revolution

The system is failing, it's straining and staining

We need to do something, anything, everything

It's time to be loud for the whole world to hear

Loud enough to reach leaders' ears

Loud enough to rewrite the story of this generation, and the next.

This is my plea, our inspiration, and the revelation of today's generation.

Thank you for your amazing, thoughtful, powerful incisive words, Taihan. They are a powerful message that I hear and that I am very glad is now on the Hansard.

See this speech in context