CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Dr ALY (Cowan—Minister for Small Business, Minister for International Development and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (10:37): I too rise here today to read a speech from 18-year-old Nevan, who also participated in the Raise Our Voice in parliament campaign. I will read this speech from Nevan. I hope, Nevan, that I do this justice: The biggest issue shaping my future is not simply the rising cost of living, or the increasing difficulty of accessing education and housing.
It is that young Australians are expected to live with these challenges while too often being excluded from the decisions that shape them. Long before I understood leadership, I was surrounded by people practising it every day. I learnt it from a grandmother whose kindness held generations of our family together.
From a mother whose strength knows no bounds. From a father who sacrificed his dreams so I could wake up each morning with opportunities he didn't get. They taught me that leadership isn't defined by age or title.
It is choosing to leave something better than you found it. Young Australians live that lesson every day, yet our voices are too often an afterthought. I ask this Parliament to establish a Youth Right to Be Heard, guaranteeing young Australians a meaningful opportunity to give our opinions before decisions are made about our future.
We aren't clueless. We have hope. Believe in us.
Trust us. Give us the chance to be more, to do more. To leave Australia better than we found it.
Don't make us wait. We are not the future. We are the now.
Well, Nevan, I can't agree with you more. Indeed, leadership is not defined by age or years on this earth. It is defined by the wisdom that I often find when I go out and speak to young people, and that wisdom is here in the words that Nevan wrote and the words that I speak on behalf of Nevan.
Thank you, Nevan, for these words. Thank you for reminding us that young people have a voice and a voice that deserves to be heard right here in this place. Thank you for reminding us that, too often, we tell young people that they are the leaders of the future, but we need to recognise that they are the leaders of the now.
Thank you also to the Raise Our Voice program for their consistent advocacy for young people to be heard and to have a say in the halls of parliament, where their voice, I will say, does matter.