Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I love meeting with and hearing from young people in my community, as all of us in this place do. They remind us why the work we do matters, because it's all about building a better future for them. Today I'd like to deliver the words of two outstanding young people in my electorate: Kayla, who took part in the Raise Our Voices campaign, and Bailey, a high school student who joined me for work experience.

Kayla said in her speech:

I believe the government should create a new school subject that teaches real life skills like managing ourselves, money, and relationships.

First, managing ourselves. Knowing facts is great, but it won't help if we can't manage stress or bounce back from failure.

This skill helps us build good habits like going to bed on time, staying calm, and doing the right thing even when we don't feel like it.

It helps us take control of our time, our thoughts, and our actions which affects everything we do in life.

Next, managing money. We all need to learn how to budget, save, and spend wisely.

My dad is a financial planner, and he's told me many stories of adults who feel stressed because they never learned this in school.

Finally, managing relationships.

This means understanding others, working in teams, and handling conflict calmly.

Skills like communication and empathy are just as important as maths and English.

If we learned these life skills early … we'd be more confident, capable, and ready for the real world.

Let's not just learn facts, let's learn how to live.

That's how we build a better tomorrow for young Australians.

I agree.

Bailey, during his time in my office, also reflected on what it is like growing up in Australia today. He said:

Growing up in Australia right now feels like standing on the edge of something huge. I'm still a teenager, but I can already see how tough things are going to be as I get older.

Between school pressure, social media and trying to figure out where I want to go in my life, it's easy to feel overwhelmed.

There's this constant pressure to succeed, to look perfect, to know exactly what you want to do with your life—I'm still figuring it out and that should be okay.

But it doesn't always feel like it is.

I also worry a lot about the world I'm growing up in—climate change is a real problem.

It feels like my generation is expected to fix everything, but we don't even know where to begin.

Young Australians like Kayla and Bailey inspire me to work harder. They're smart, compassionate and determined to shape a fairer future and a kinder Australia. We need to offer them hope as parliamentarians.

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