Allira Lynd-Williams, Michaelia Weeda and Katiya Hyvattinen were chaperoned by Legal Studies teacher, Elise Davey to attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention in Canberra, ACT in March following the successful entry of their essay into a competition.

Here is a refletion on the experience (and the food!) from Allira:

The three of us had to write a 400-word short essay in answer to “Do you think Australia should have a bill of rights?”. From this, five students across Tasmania were selected to attend the convention.

Over the three days we were to discuss Section 128 of the Constitution which involves referendums and the ways in which Australia’s Constitution can be changed. We were randomly put into groups with one student from each State and Territory to discuss whether or not sSection 128 is still necessary, as well as discussing the Voice to Parliament Referendum. Our discussions were also informed by listening to a variety of key-note speakers, all of whom had strong and differing points of view.

We were fortunate enough to experience a number of different things in Canberra aside from sitting in Old Parliament House debating the topic in question. The second we arrived in Canberra we dropped our luggage off at the hotel, had lunch and were bussed straight to Parliament House where we got to witness the childish nature of House of Representatives Question Time in person! In saying that, it was actually a really enjoyable experience. A lot of us felt that the speaker was a little biased in Labor’s favour, we heard a lot of “quiet on my left!” (that’s where the Opposition sits). On the second day, after the discussions, we were bussed to the Governor-General’s house, where we got to have a little walk around tour, take a very rushed and hectic photo with the swarmed Governor-General himself, sing My Only Sunshine with Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley as she played the piano, and snack on some yummy Aussie food (yes, I’m talking FINGER FOOD!!). After that we attended the High Court of Australia, where we got to go into different courtrooms, including the one where the Lindy Chamberlain case was held. We were also pretty fortunate to be allowed to have dinner at The High Court, the food was kind of weird though, I’m not going to lie.

On our last day we had more discussions, we got to participate in a mock referendum, and we also got a tour of Old Parliament House, which is tiny in comparison to the new one! And then we had to fly back to Tassie (which none of us were complaining about seeing as they flew us back from Canberra to Melbourne in Business Class).

Overall, it was an incredible experience, and whilst the discussions about the Constitution and our system of government were interesting and eye-opening, I think the more practical experiences of the trip were the most valuable (and most enjoyable) of our time there.

Well done to these students,  an excellent achievement to have three Don College students represent the state at the convention. What a fantastic learning opportunity for students to see the inside workings of parliament.