An Aussie org is campaigning for young people to have their voices heard in Federal Parliament, if you’re keen on sharing your thoughts and feelings about this country’s future. Go on, give ’em a piece of your mind!
The Raise Our Voice in Parliament campaign is run by, you guessed it, Raise Our Voice. It’s an org dedicated to amplifying young female and non-binary voices in politics and policy.
As part of the campaign, people aged 21 and under of all genders are being asked to submit 90 second speeches about their vision for Australia’s new parliament.
Some of those speeches will then be selected and read out in parliament by politicians during November’s Youth Voice in Parliament week.
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TBH: I did not know a Youth Voice in Parliament week existed, but it sounds fkn cool.
80 MPs and senators from all sides of the political aisle have agreed to take part so far.
In last year’s Raise Our Voice in Parliament campaign, more than 600 young Aussies submitted speeches.
Raise Our Voice founder Ashleigh Streeter-Jones told PEDESTRIAN.TV about the campaign’s two main goals: increasing the political literacy of people aged 21 and under, and putting issues young people care about in front of MPs and senators.
She pointed out that in the last election, only two MPs under the age of 30 joined Parliament: Brissy MP Stephen Bates and WA Senator Fatima Payman.
“Ultimately, we want to connect with as many young people and politicians as possible,” Streeter-Jones explained.
By connecting with both those groups, the campaign can help young peoples’ views be “[better] represented to the people who are elected to represent them”.
Streeter-Jones raised the point that young people are “critically underrepresented” in both parliament and key decision-making bodies.
“We are one of the largest growing demographics and again, we are the ones that are going to inherit the consequences of decisions made today,” she said.
“But young people don’t often have a say in what those decisions are and therefore don’t have a formal seat at the table to create their future.”
While youth are leading the charge on conversations around gender equality and climate change, as put by Streeter-Jones, that work is being “confined to informal spaces”.
So if you’re interested in raising your voice, so to speak, speech submissions are open ’till October 19.
You can suss all the deets on the Raise Our Voice website!
