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National Indigenous Youth Parliament
by Pieta Horgan 6 February 2014
I
n 2014 the Australian Electoral Commission will host the second National Indigenous Youth Parliament (NIYP). The purpose of the NIYP is to develop a group of future Indigenous leaders confident to take a stand on issues, willing to take the lead on community-based responses to challenges and ready to promote reconciliation. The NIYP offers 50 young Indigenous Australians a chance to travel to Canberra and find out how government works and how laws are made. No specific skills are required, but participants are chosen based on their community leadership activities, what they can bring to the event and the benefits they will take home. The youth parliamentarians will meet with and learn from the
Youth parliament 2013 participants debating. Image: AEC
nation’s leaders and experts in their fields, including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, members of Parliament, the parliamentary press gallery and community leaders. NIYP was first held in 2012 when 50 youth parliamentarians gathered in Canberra from across Australia for a hectic week-long program. They observed the ‘cut and thrust’ of parliament at Question Time and sat in the Cabinet Room and compared notes with parliamentarians who later commented on how the experience had re-invigorated their own enthusiasm and idealism. The program included a reception at Government House hosted by Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC CVO, GovernorGeneral, who urged the youth parliamentarians to put their views on important issues and to use
their skills and influence to make sure people in their communities understood how the electoral and democratic process can work for them. The Youth Parliament was held at Old Parliament House, in the very chamber where half a century ago legislation was debated that gave Indigenous Australians the right to vote. The youth parliamentarians argued for or against the bills, which addressed issues of importance to their communities, and used the adjournment debates to make passionate, sometimes emotional, statements about issues that have affected them and their communities. The final bills were presented to the government and opposition for consideration. Applications for NIYP 2014 close on 10 March 2014. Go to www.aec.gov.au/Indigenous.
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