STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms SHARKIE (Mayo) (13:36): This week, Parliament House is hosting the inaugural National Youth Parliament, bringing together 150 exceptional young Australians from across the country. Selected from over 2,200 applicants, these 16- and 17-year-olds, one from each of our electorates, have spent the week developing their leadership skills, debating, learning and critical thinking, as well as meeting with MPs.

I was delighted to meet with a group of students from across Australia, including several from South Australian electorates. They came armed with thoughtful and insightful questions on how parliament works, the role of the crossbench committees and the balance of power, as well as policy issue discussion on tobacco, gambling and AUKUS. We also discussed how the three levels of government work, and we talked about responding to disasters and emergencies.

A particular highlight for me was meeting Harry from Mayo—hopefully a future member for Mayo. Congratulations to all 150 students selected for this fantastic program. It's wonderful to see.

I think they are such an impressive group of young people, who are engaging in democracy and thinking seriously about how they can shape our nation. I'd particularly like to acknowledge the Speaker for his tremendous leadership with this program. It really is fantastic, and I hope that it happens many years to come.