Civics and Citizenship

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:34): There are many things that make the job of being a member of parliament the wonderful job that it is. Just as one example, most of us would attend over the years many citizenship ceremonies. To attend these events is an honour, to be able to participate in the ceremony is a privilege and to see the happiness of those making their commitment to Australia and its people is an absolute joy. Citizenship ceremonies are simply but importantly a celebration.

In every speech I have ever made at these events, I attempt in the strongest way to encourage all who are taking the pledge at the end of the ceremony, if they have not already, to visit our friends at the back of the hall from the Australian Electoral Commission and to sign up so that they can vote in future elections. It is important to remember that, at each citizenship ceremony, there are many candidates who have come from a variety of countries—some where people are being killed fighting for the right to vote and some are from other countries that are corrupt and do not have a political or government structure that is anything even remotely resembling a democracy.

Here in Australia, we have a robust and healthy democratic system and tradition—perhaps not perfect, but I would venture that it is as good as it gets. It is a participative democracy. All eligible persons are compelled to participate in it. Some might be thinking, 'Where are you going with this, Caica?' Well, I will get there.

Another task that I love participating in, and one that brings me a lot of joy, is Parliament House tours. I like all the tours, whether it be the local University of the Third Age or the Probus Club, but in particular I really enjoy showing school students around Parliament House. I am very pleased that today we see included in our national curriculum a component relating to civics. This has resulted in there being a significant increase in the number of requests from the primary schools in my electorate to conduct tours of Parliament House for their year 6-7 students.

On each of these occasions, whether it be the primary school students of Grange Primary School or St Francis or Star of the Sea, or any of my schools, including high school students, a couple of things are obvious from the outset; one is that the students are being properly and well prepared for the visits, and to this end I congratulate and thank the teachers.

The second thing that becomes apparent is how keen they are to ask questions and to learn from the experience of visiting parliament in the context of their civics education, whether it be how governments are formed, South Australia's proud role in women's suffrage, the establishment in South Australia of the secret ballot (now used throughout many parts of the world), who sits on the crossbenches and what those sitting on the opposition benches want more than anything else in the world—and, amongst the many other things discussed, is the role of the Speaker and how the Speaker maintains order.

I enjoy conducting these tours, and in fact I like to believe that the students enjoy themselves as much as I do. When I was at school, unless you had a teacher who may have been a bit of an activist (and we did in the early seventies have many teachers who could be categorised as that), there was little teaching or education on our political system or the democracy that underpins it, or is it the reverse order? Nonetheless, we had little that helped any of us be properly prepared for participating in our democratic system, and this is why I welcome the introduction of civics in our national curriculum.

What this means is that students, just like those who toured Parliament House this year and previously, throughout their schooling year after year will build on their knowledge of how our political system works and what it means to them and, by doing so, be properly prepared for active participation in that system. That can only be a good thing, not just for those participating but also for our community and, most importantly, for the health and robustness of our democracy. Just have a look at what is going on in the United States at the moment with respect to the knowledge and the level of knowledge of those people who are participating.

As I said earlier, it is a participative democracy and one in which all Australians are required to participate. I just want to finish off by again congratulating and thanking those teachers who are taking an active role in the area and component of civics within our primary schools and also those high school teachers. I bring many students from St Michael's and Henley High School, and others who are doing legal studies, here to Parliament House. There is no doubt they are going to be far better prepared than any generation before them with respect to participating in our democracy. So, I congratulate those teachers.

With respect to St Francis of Assisi, a school that visited here last week, I was even honoured to have the principal, Rick Favilla, come on the tour. He was a very valuable contributor, along with the students, during that tour. I think it is a good thing and we are going to see very, very good and beneficial outcomes from the inclusion of civics in our national curriculum.

Time expired.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You must take Muriel there one day.