Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm reading this speech on behalf of Kaleah, as part of Raise Our Voice:

Hello, I am Kaleah, I am 12 years old, and I am from the Mayo electorate.

Growing up I loved going to school, being with my friends, making art, having fun. I had no worries.

However, as I got older things started to change. I started having so many thoughts that people didn't actually enjoy my company and I wasn't focusing on my work because I was too anxious on other problems.

I was getting bullied and that caused me to miss many school days. I had problems in the morning, getting up was difficult. I started having days where my anxiety would make me think what was I even doing here.

I moved schools, but that is not enough for me. I want to change how schools do things. I want to build a stronger system to prevent bullying and I want schools to be able to help, or at least understand what a kid is going through. Creating a better system for all these kinds of things could really help people.

…   …   …

One way is to simply just check up on your students. I am not talking about all together as a group. Calling a kid out on that kind of thing would make them embarrassed or uncomfortable. Asking someone individually, and giving them the privacy from other people could make them feel in a more safe and not as scared to answer truthfully.

Giving a kid time is actually an amazing way to help. Do not push them, do not rush them. Let them go at their own pace. What they are talking about can be really difficult, and it can take time to even put the words together …

I have many more ideas, but I am sure you can all think of some together, as the people of Australia, we need to take care of young minds, help them grow. Thank you listening.

Kaleah, I would love to meet you. Please give my office a call.

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am honoured to deliver a speech today written by two young South Australians, Abel and Mitchell, as part of the Raise Our Voice campaign in parliament. They say:

To the Honourable Members of Parliament,

It is important for us young people to be able to speak up about things that concern us and what we would like to see happen to improve our living and wellbeing in Australia.

We think that the young people from around Australia should have the chance to have a place where they can call home.

Many of us are going to find it hard to afford this.

The cost of living is going up and our parents can't help us to get a deposit for a house because they are finding it hard to pay for all the living cost.

It will take us years to save up for a house deposit because we have to pay really high rents.

So, we are suggesting you could make houses and create loans so we can borrow money without high interest rates and slowly pay it back to the government.

Then we would be able to live the dream of having our own house.

All we are asking is to make some small houses to help those who don't have enough money.

Thank you for listening to our voice.

Thank you, Abel and Mitchell, for your thoughts. You are absolutely right. You deserve a roof over your head, and it shouldn't rely on your parents having to go without to help you to do it. Your solutions to build more homes are right on target. They will work; they have worked before. We could cap rents so you have a shot at saving towards that deposit you will need. You've named the problems well. There are solutions there. Thanks so much for bringing your ideas to the parliament.