I鈥檝e done a few intense programs and activities in my life, but the is by far the most rewarding and broad spanning program I have done so far. Over five months, and climaxing in six nonstop days, we underwent planning, legislative research and writing, debating, and speech writing, all amongst a group of 15 to 25 year olds from every walk of life - with a love of politics not required at all!
In the months leading up to the camp, we underwent weekly Zoom meetings in our different committees, such as Tourism, Regional Development or Education, in which I learned all about bizarre and specific aspects of our State, from uranium mining regulations to the ins and outs of pastoral farming. This equipped us, whether we were a member of the government or the opposition, to bash it out in the chamber for the three days which we were sitting in the Legislative Assembly, and bash it out we did!
The debating was fierce and nuanced, with government and opposition fiercely yelling 鈥淪hame!鈥 and 鈥淗ear Hear!鈥. What I loved within the debates was the fact that personal electrical devices had to be turned off at all times, meaning that we were forced to simply use a combination of our prepared notes and raw intellect, rather than quickly searching up stats to baffle the opposing side.
Numerous people were given the opportunity to impart their wisdom on us, such as the leader of the opposition, the speaker, and various MPs, though I felt that the WA Governor, the Honorable Kim Beazley, gave the most well-rounded and informative speech of the lot.
What I found most impressive and honestly, surprising, is that Youth Parliament is so much more than a camp and program simply about politics, and that you don鈥檛 have to know anything about politics to enjoy and learn from it. At its heart it鈥檚 a program to develop young people, run by young people. It was about meeting others, being baffled at the quiz night, or enjoying afternoon tea with someone in the Parliamentary foyer before plunging back into the chamber for another round of debates.
Overall, I鈥檝e never been a part of a program quite like Youth Parliament, and I don鈥檛 think there is another youth program out there which really hits the perfect combination of things needed for developing young people, and, as such, I couldn鈥檛 recommend it more highly.