SCHOOLS STATE

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Legislative Assembly Chamber

Parliament House

Melbourne

15September 2008

First name / Surname / School/College
Christopher / Armatas / Lavalla Catholic College
Kristien / Arnold / Mazenod College
Ashlee / Ascenzo / Lalor North SC
Susie / Azra / Northcote HS
Stephanie / Baboulos / Lalor North SC
Kelsea / Bettencourt-Hathaway / Elwood College
Anthony / Bitar / Antonine College
Cameron / Bobbitt / Footscray City College
Cameron / Burke / Thomastown SC
Gabriel / Caluzzi / University HS
Sebnem / Camur / Isik College
Harris / Chan / University HS
Rose / Charbel / Antonine College
Sarah / Christie / Gippsland Grammar
Hannah / Clarke / Notre Dame College
Aidan / Connolly / Elwood College
Christopher / Corneschi / Thomastown SC
Luke / Dakis-Corcoran / Northcote HS
Caroline / Dale / Elwood College
Caitlin / Donnelly / University HS
Ryan / D'Souza / Mazenod College
Hai / Duong / Taylors Lakes SC
Bethany / Edwards / Loreto College
Jessica / Edwards / Lavalla Catholic College
Nadine / El Soukmani / Antonine College
Subriah / Esharc / Australian International
Academy
Sam / Everett / University HS
Clare / Fisher / Lalor SC
Filip / Gacesa / Caroline Springs College
Christian / Gelder / University HS
Maddy / Goss / Northcote HS
Joe / Gould / Bendigo South East SC
Isobelle / Hanger / Gippsland Grammar
Rowena / Harding / Weeroona SC
Jami / Heal / Lavalla Catholic College
Hope / Henley / Thomastown SC
Beth / Ierino / Notre Dame College
Marianna / Issa / Antonine College
Harrison / James / Thomastown SC
Serenay / Kalkan / Isik College
Jon-Pierre Karaan / Karaan / Antonine College
Jacob / Keenan / Lowanna College
Callum / Kirkpatrick / Eaglehawk SC
Luke / Knowles / Gippsland Grammar
Gulsah / Kul / Isik College
Nimita Archana / Lal / Thomastown SC
Stephanie / Langadiotis / Elwood College
Casey / Marin / Loreto College
Kelcie / McDowell / Eaglehawk SC
Marie-Theres / Meingast / Elwood College
Sinead / Mildenhall / Footscray City College
Alistair / Mills / Notre Dame College
Alexandra / Molinari / Lavalla Catholic College
Nellie / Montague / Northcote HS
Samantha / Mountford / Melbourne Girls College
Laura / Muller / Elwood College
Laura / Müller / International Student,
Elwood College
Christine / Nastos / Lalor North SC
Richard / Nicholas / Northcote HS
Noly / Noble / Footscray City College
BJ / Oakford / Notre Dame College
Dara / Orsanic / Footscray City College
Dorian / Papadopoulos / Taylors Lakes SC
Adrian / Pariso / University HS
Liam / Parker / University HS
Carla / Pasceri / Lalor North SC
Savas / Petrakis / University HS
Michelle / Pollacco / Taylors Lakes SC
Joseph / Raffoul / Antonine College
Claine / Raymond / Elwood College
Glen / Regan / University HS
Todd / Ripon / Gippsland Grammar
Agnik / Sarkar / Gippsland Grammar
Marco / Scalora / University HS
Con / Sgouropoulos / Caroline Springs College
Olivia / Shae / Elwood College
Chris / Shaj / University HS
Ahmed / Siddiqi / Australian International
Academy
Juniper / Sime / Elwood College
Jessica / Skinner / Lavalla Catholic College
Janet / Slade / Kurnai College
Daniel / Soi / Thomastown SC
Trent / Stevenson / Elwood College
Jin Hooi / Tan / University HS
Matthew / Taylor / Elwood College
Zeynep / Temel / Isik College
Katherine / Thomas / University HS
Jade / Timmermann / International Student,
Elwood College
Bonnie / Tran / University HS
Matthew / Trew / Eaglehawk SC
Isabella / Vadiveloo / Melbourne Girls College
Cassie / Van loon / Kurnai College
Yihaun / Wang / Elwood College
Andrew / Ware / Lavalla Catholic College
Nicholas / Whan / Bendigo South East SC
Will / Williams / University HS
Katrina / You / University HS
Reyyan / Yucel / Isik College
Yusif / Yusif / University HS
Jason / Zhang / University HS
William / Zhong / University HS
Azzam / Zubairy / Elwood College


Welcome and introduction

The CHAIR (MsBarker)— Good morning. My name is Ann Barker. I am the state member for Oakleigh and the Deputy Speaker of the Victorian Parliament. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Victorian Parliament this morning. I would firstly like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are gathered, the people of the Kulin nation, and I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I will formally introduce our guest speakers this morning at a later stage. I welcome my parliamentary colleague MrSteve Herbert, the state member for Eltham and the parliamentary secretary for education; Professor Brian Costar from Swinburne University; and our lead speakers Nathalie Brewer, James Paterson, Lucas Ryan and Amit Golder. As I said, I will provide you with more information about our important speakers in a later part of the proceedings.

I am very pleased to be here this morning to see this place, the Legislative Assembly chamber, being used to debate and discuss an important public policy matter. As MPs we are elected by constituents of our electorate and we have a responsibility to work with and for them to improve services and facilities which strengthen our communities, but we are also elected as Victorian MPs to provide laws which govern our state. That is what is done in this place. While bills are developed out of the Parliament, it is in this place that they are introduced, debated and discussed. For many Victorians, their view of Parliament is question time, often seen as grabs of certain questions on the television nightly news and often seen as being quite robust and quite adversarial. Obviously question time is important to the opposition of the day.

It is their opportunity to question the government of the day on what they see as faults and problems, and that is an important part of our parliamentary system here in Victoria, which is based on the Westminster system. However, a great deal of the work which goes on in this chamber is not the same as question time and is undoubtedly of much more relevance and importance to the daytoday lives of ordinary Victorians. That work is the debating of bills which, if passed through this chamber and then the Legislative Council chamber, become law. The Parliament has now commenced webcasting proceedings, and this is providing further opportunity for the broader community to at least listen to the daytoday work of MPs, and I hope this will provide, as we move further on, a greater knowledge of the work that we undertake when we are in this place.

Earlier this year the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Branch organised a conference on governance, and I was very fortunate to be able to attend. During my time in the UK I was interested to learn of what is called BBC Parliament. It is a dedicated channel broadcasting both the debate in the chambers as well as the discussion and debate in committees. Perhaps it is just because of my great interest, but I spent a long time not sleeping so much at night but watching BBCParliament, which broadcasts for nearly 24hours. Some would say that is a bit silly, but I am actually interested in the work of parliaments. While I am pleased that we have now moved to webcasting, I have no doubt that the opportunity for all Victorians, or those Victorians who are interested in the laws of our state, to watch the debate and the way in which it is done will provide a much greater insight into that work.

There are other ways in which the work of the Parliament can be better understood, and importantly there are ways in which the procedures of Parliament can be experienced and learnt to ensure that parliamentarians of the future have that opportunity before they get here. Of course those Victorians who would want to play a very active role in developing society can experience some of the work that we do regularly. Today’s constitutional convention is one of those opportunities. While not exactly the same format, the principles remain the same: a matter of public policy, which some feel could be altered or even perhaps abolished; developing and stating the reasons why that public policy should remain the same, be altered or perhaps abolished; putting forward those reasons and suggestions; debating and discussing them in a structured and orderly way to ensure as many as possible have the opportunity to put forward their views and concerns; and then, importantly, voting to determine a majority outcome on that matter of public policy.

As I said, it is not quite the same but very similar. We on most occasions in this chamber and in the other chamber vote along what are called party lines, and that is a very orderly and structured way in which to conduct the Parliament, but there are some bills which have a conscience or a personal vote, and that is what you will be doing today. We had that experience here last week in Parliament when we had a bill of very important public policy which was debated for a very long time. We had our secondreading stage of the bill, which is the time when the lead speakers have more time in which they can put forward their reasons for either supporting or opposing the bill— and we have our lead speakers here today. In this place we have a fairly structured standing order process and members of Parliament— which you are today— had up to 10minutes each during the secondreading debate in which they could put forward their views either supporting or opposing the bill; we did that for some 71⁄2hours. We then went into a stage in this chamber which is called consideration in detail. In some parliaments it is called the committee stage of the bill, and that is where a number of MPs may have proposed amendments to the bill to either take clauses out or alter them to a form they feel is much better. That consideration in detail is the work that I do as Deputy Speaker. Those amendments and that debate took some 20hours, and then we finally put it to a final vote in this chamber.

The importance of that is also the importance of today— that is, you have your lead speakers, and you will listen to them and consider the information that they put forward. You will then discuss it, and then you will come back into this place and be given an opportunity to speak and put your views. The importance of that is that, as for us last week, as many MPs as possible will have that opportunity to put their views. That is what we will do today. As many of you as possible will have the opportunity to put your views.

As I said, I welcome you to this place. I am just so pleased to be able to see it being used for such a great purpose. I am sure that many of you will get the taste of what it is like to be a member of Parliament and you will all want to be members of Parliament in the future. I welcome it— particularly the girls.

I will now move through the program. It is my great pleasure to introduce to you formally Steve Herbert, who, as I said, is the member for Eltham and the Parliamentary Secretary for Education. Steve originally trained as a teacher. During the 1990s he worked in very senior advisory roles with both state and federal governments. He has been the member for Eltham since December 2002. In August 2007 Steve was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Education, assisting the Minister for Education, the Honourable Bronwyn Pike. Prior to that Steve also had a further role as being parliamentary secretary for conservation. It is my pleasure to invite Steve Herbert to speak to you this morning.

MrHERBERT (Parliamentary Secretary for Education)— Thank you, Chair. Firstly, let me begin by acknowledging some of the guests we have here today. Of course today’s Chair is MsAnn Barker. We also have Professor Brian Costar from Swinburne University; MrMartin Dixon, MLA and shadow Minister for Education, who will be summing up at the conclusion of today’s proceedings; and students, teachers and parliamentary staff. Welcome to the Victorian Parliament.

As MsBarker said, we have had a fairly long time in here over the last week or so, but it is good to be back under nicer circumstances or at least more convivial circumstances. I am the Parliamentary Secretary for Education. I am delighted to be here on what is quite an educational achievement. I would normally sit where Jacob sits over there— Jacob, put your hand up— which is the middle row, which is where parliamentary secretaries often sit. The Minister for Education, the Honourable Bronwyn Pike, could not make it here today. Cabinet is sitting this morning, and she is required to go.

I think today is a fantastic opportunity for many of you here to learn firsthand just how the Victorian government and Parliament work. You will have the opportunity to participate in open discussion and debate elements that are essential to decisionmaking processes of our government. These conventions— this is the second one I have attended— provide a wonderful opportunity to meet, share ideas and opinions, and debate contemporary political and social issues at the local level. They also provide a good opportunity to get out there and have a chat with students from other schools in other parts of Melbourne. During morning tea and lunchtime, do not just stay in your school groups. Get around, have a chat with each other and find out a little bit more about how education works across the state. There are 16secondary colleges represented here in the Parliament today, which will provide much stimulating debate for everybody.

The Parliament of Victoria of course embodies a diverse history and legacy of more than 150years of innovation, of change and of debate. The constitutional framework that was created by the Parliament’s founders I think— and I would be interested in Professor Costar’s opinion of this— pretty much provides us with the basis of one of the most democratic parliaments in the world.