Nearly 45 percent of Australia's population is under the age of 35, but not a single member of parliament falls into that category, meaning the views of young people often go unheard. The "Youth Voice in Parliament" campaign is working to change that, persuading politicians to use their speech time to speak words written by our country's youngest change-makers.
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00:00 11-year-old Juliet may not be able to vote yet,
00:04 but she's already captured the ear of her local member.
00:08 I feel like we should be taking more action.
00:11 She's written a speech about plastic pollution,
00:14 highlighting its impact on marine ecosystems.
00:17 Banning plastic's important,
00:19 and yet not many people want to do it
00:22 because of all the convenience that it gives people.
00:25 The powerful question she poses to me and other politicians is,
00:28 "Why aren't we doing more?"
00:30 In the coming days, Juliet's speech will get a bigger audience
00:34 when Allegra Spender reads it out in Parliament
00:37 as part of a campaign to platform the voices of people under the age of 25.
00:42 We ask that they give up one of their 90-second constituency statements
00:46 to read a speech written by a young person that they represent.
00:49 Whatever decision they make,
00:51 it's going to impact us more than it's going to impact them.
00:54 So I think it's really important that we have something to say.
00:58 Perhaps unsurprisingly,
01:00 the environment features heavily in this year's speeches.
01:04 16-year-old Krishan Gowda wrote his about shifting to cleaner energy sources.
01:09 We saw the Black Summer bushfires,
01:11 and we saw how many people lost their lives, their homes, their livelihoods.
01:15 We know so many animals lost their lives as well,
01:18 and I think now is the time to be able to transition towards renewable energy
01:22 just because we are running out of time.
01:25 He believes young people have an obligation to speak up on big issues.
01:29 Particularly in a first-world nation, you have no excuse.
01:33 I think it's time that you go out, read your news articles,
01:36 get in contact with your local MP
01:38 and learn about what's happening in Parliament today.
01:40 Young people are leading consent movements,
01:42 they're leading climate movements.
01:44 They are incredibly political actors,
01:46 but their voices aren't always heard in the institutions that represent them.
01:50 The youth voice in Parliament begins tomorrow and runs for three days.
01:55 In that time, federal MPs and senators from across the political spectrum
01:59 will deliver the messages of Australia's politically engaged young people.
02:04 This is about kids not just saying, well, talking to leaders
02:07 or being leaders of the future.
02:09 This is about kids leading now.
02:11 And helping shape the world they will inherit.
02:14 inherit.
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