ADJOURNMENT

Senator PAYMAN (Western Australia—Australia's Voice Whip) (20:49): I want to take a moment tonight to acknowledge and thank some of the incredible young Australians from my home state of Western Australia participating in the Raise Our Voice campaign. Siya, Eden, Savannah, Lauren, Caitlen, Lauren, Ivana, Nadia, Grace and Lake, your courage, conviction and clarity of thought are truly inspiring to me and so many of my colleagues here.

You have taken many issues that adults struggle to articulate—from body image and online harm to youth justice, mental health crisis and environmental loss—and you've spoken truth to power with wisdom beyond your years. You also remind us that young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow; they're the conscience of today. Your voices challenge us to do better, listen harder and build a future that reflects your compassion, intelligence and sense of justice.

With that I will begin the first speech, 'Unfiltered digital future', written by 18-year-old Siya: 'She is me. One in three teenage girls say Instagram makes them feel worse about their bodies, not because of bullying and not because of insults, just from opening the app. Scroll by scroll, she begins to shrink.

She drinks frappes, dreams of Santorini and sings Taylor Swift in the shower. She believes in love, laughter and magic. She belongs here, but social media convinces her she's too loud, too soft, too much.

She is me. This isn't fiction. Instagram's leaked research confirmed its harm.

The Dove Self-Esteem Project found that 80 per cent of girls edit photos from fear, not creativity. The Butterfly Foundation has shown that three in four girls feel dissatisfied with their bodies. This is no accident; it's the algorithm working as designed.

So what should government do today? It should, first, mandate digital wellbeing education in schools, teaching media literacy, resilience and self-worth; second, enforce accountability for tech companies, with warning labels, transparency and regulation against harmful algorithms; and, third, fund mental health services tailored to young Australians navigating online pressures, because building a better tomorrow means protecting girls today.

She is me. She is every young Australian, and she deserves a future unfiltered, unedited, unapologetically whole.' The next speech is 'Raising the age', written by Eden, Savannah, Lauren, Caitlen, Lauren, Ivana and Nadia: 'We have questions. How can a 10-year-old be sentenced under the Criminal Code but not sign a legally binding contract in Australia, as they're considered a minor and lack full legal capacity to enter into a contract?

As a 2025 politics and law class who have previously studied, and are currently studying, raising the age of criminal responsibility, we have concerns. In Western Australia we are significantly behind the rest of the country and the United Nations, which recommends a minimum age of criminal responsibility of at least 14. At 10 years old, a child is still developing.

Contract law tells us their brains are not yet capable of fully understanding agreements and consequences. Criminalising children at this age pushes vulnerable kids, often from disadvantaged or Indigenous backgrounds, further into cycles of offending. Instead of punishing, we should be addressing the root causes: poverty, trauma and lack of support.

Raising the age of criminal responsibility should recognise that children deserve guidance, not jail cells. By raising the age to at least 14, we have the chance to lead with compassion in our community. We need to create a system that protects our most vulnerable, giving them the opportunity to grow, to learn and to thrive.' The next speech is 'Bringing back nature', written by 15-year-old Grace: 'When I was 10, I used to spend hours in the garden.

I'd follow ants as they marched in long lines, watch bees dart from flower to flower and wait for snails to slide out after the rain. Those tiny moments made me feel connected to the world around me. But now I'm 15, and the world feels different.

I can't remember the last time I saw the animals I grew up seeing. The garden feels quieter, emptier—almost like something's missing—and it makes me wonder what else we're losing without even realising it. My name is Grace, and I'm from the Pearce electorate, in Western Australia.

For me, this isn't just about insects. It's about the kind of future young Australians will grow up in, a future where nature is part of our daily lives not just because we read about them in textbooks. That's why I believe the government should act now to protect our environment.

It's not just about big projects like clean energy but also about small, local actions that we can see and feel every day. Planting more trees in our suburbs so our streets stay cooler in summer, restoring bushland and wetlands so native animals and insects have places to return to, supporting community gardens and green spaces where young people can reconnect with nature—these are steps that make our environment healthier but also make our lives better, because a brighter tomorrow is one where kids can grow up surrounded by life again, where a buzzing bee or a snail after the rain feels ordinary, not rare.' The next speech, 'Youth mental health', was written by 15-year-old Lake: 'Hello, I am Lake.

I am 15 years old, and I'm from Forrest. At this moment in time, we are facing an unprecedented youth mental health crisis. As someone who has significantly struggled with my mental health in the past, I feel I'm qualified to say that we, as Australians, should be deeply ashamed of the government's inaction regarding this issue.

According to the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, nearly three-quarters of young people suffer from depression or anxiety, and research from Monash University shows that 10 per cent of youth report seeking help with their mental health and not finding it. That's not 10 per cent of youth with mental health concerns. That's 10 per cent of all young people.

Hundreds of people every year kill themselves because they have been severely and deeply failed by us. Fortunately, you, the members of parliament, are in a position to do something about this. We need immediate and decisive, non-partisan action if we actually care about young people.

This should start but not end with a broad campaign to address the rising demand for mental health services, with particular emphasis on protecting young people whose struggle with mental health is in dire straits. Following that, a campaign in schools to teach and warn about mental health concerns would be an excellent next step. Our system is failing people, with Australia's future on the line, and continued ignorance on the part of parliament will only see suicide rates continue to rise.' Thank you so much.