Ms ROXON (Minister for Health and Ageing) (4:00 PM) —I want to take this increasingly unusual opportunity to raise something that I have been doing in my electorate of Gellibrand for the last 11 years that I have been a member of parliament. Each year we have conducted an SRC meeting, where I invite senior students from schools within Gellibrand to meet with me at my electorate office. I invite them to discuss issues that are of interest and concern to them to make sure that, as a politician, I hear firsthand about issues and concerns that rate highly in young people’s minds. Students really do seem to appreciate the opportunity to raise these issues with me locally. When I was first elected to parliament I was considered by others to be a young MP, but even at that time I was twice the age of the students whom I was meant to be representing, and of course over the last 11 years that gap is increasing.

Each year different schools send students along, and this year students from Mount Saint Joseph’s Girls College, Braybrook College, Gilmore College for Girls, Williamstown High School and Emmanuel College all attended the SRC meeting. I also find it interesting to see how the trends change each year. In previous years students have focused on education, in particular the cost of tertiary education for students in the western suburbs of Melbourne, but this year one of the main topics of discussion was the importance of multiculturalism. Students indicated they were concerned about ethnic discrimination and violence, an issue that has an increased attention in the local and national media after a few very unfortunate incidents. They provided some creative suggestions to eliminate this problem. Some students suggested schools need to do more to educate students about the importance of multiculturalism in society. Others, though, provided examples of the activities undertaken at their schools, such as multicultural week, where students attend schools in their traditional and cultural dress, an issue of great importance in my area. Other students said they believed school communities understood the importance of multiculturalism and accepted it as a strength in Australia but said the wider community, and sometimes their parents, needed to be educated on its importance.

I find these forums very valuable because the students raise a range of issues that might not otherwise come to our attention. Safety on trains and around train stations was raised. Students were concerned about vandalism and their own safety, particularly in off-peak periods. The lack of interaction and relationships between schools was also an area of discussion. Apart from some sporting competitions, students said that there was little interaction between schools in the west. They have asked me if I would be interested in developing an interschool program in Gellibrand similar to but larger than the SRC forum and including discussion and debate about important local and national issues. They said that this will give them an opportunity to meet with students from other schools as well as strengthen their relationships and friendships. I found it very useful to hear these views. I am now working with the students to see if we can do this in 2010. I want to thank the schools and the young people for sharing their ideas with me so that I am able to raise them in the parliament.