Parliamentary Success
March 4, 2011
Year 11 student Tyrone Turaga will follow in the footsteps of 2010 Senior Thomas Boase when he represents Queensland at the National Schools Constitutional Convention in Canberra from 23-25 March.
The boarder from Bundaberg was elected to represent the state by fellow participants, along with two other students from Queensland, after competing in the Queensland Schools Constitutional Convention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders at Queensland Parliament House earlier this week.
The Convention explored the theme of "Federalism: Unite or Divide?" Participants debated whether control of major river systems, specifically the Murray Darling Basin and Wild Rivers, should be with the Commonwealth Parliament. The Nudgee College team argued that the Wild Rivers Act should stay in the power of the federal government.
Year 12 students Matthew Connop and Anthony Chislom, both from Darwin, and Year 11 student Jack Barnett from Bundaberg also participated in the program and helped Tyrone to prepare his winning argument. The students were only given two days to research and construct their speech.
“I like that we worked together as a team to come up with our argument—we put all of our brains in one pot. Ms Angela Dunn was also a great mentor and helped us structure our speech,” said Tyrone.
After an Aboriginal elder did the Welcome to Country, students were given a briefing by Scientists and Rangers working on the river systems, as well as about how to deliver their speech prior to the students making their presentations. Afterwards students had the rare opportunity of going into the Chamber.
“The public are not allowed into the Chamber so it was a real privilege,” said Jack.
Matthew and Anthony both agreed that having the opportunity to meet and interact with Indigenous students from other schools was a highlight.
“Listening to the students speak about the Indigenous Programs in their schools really put into perspective how lucky we are here at Nudgee College. We were really proud to be wearing the blue and white that day,” said Anthony.
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