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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-02 Daily Xml
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Light Electorate

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:20): Today, I would like to touch on a couple of issues involving young people in my community. At the outset, I would like to indicate my huge pride in the young people in my electorate. Often, young people get a bad run in both the media and in community discussions. Certainly, the young people in my electorate are people we can be proud of and there are a couple of examples I would like to provide.

First of all, in one of my council areas, the Town of Gawler, we have two young people running for local council, namely, Ethan White and Isaac Solomon. These two young men are even younger than I was when I first entered local government at the age of 21 in 1981. I think that these two young men will be an asset to the Town of Gawler should they be elected next week when the elections are held for local government.

Sadly, though, their candidacy has received some feedback that I think is both unfair and inaccurate. Their lack of experience has been brought up as an issue. Some people have made the comment, 'What would they know about being on a council?' etc. What I can say is that these two young men have done enormous amounts of work in the community. They have led a number of youth groups, etc., and have been involved in community leadership much more than a lot of adults have been in their time. I think these two people should be judged not by what they have not done but by what they have done so far. I think they will be a valuable addition to the Town of Gawler.

In addition, only last week I was invited to be a guest teacher at Northern Adelaide Senior College for a lesson. I had to give a talk about the pros and cons of social reforms. My job was to speak about the political process and the political issues and the different ways of looking at an issue. I spoke with these young people. It was a Stage 2 Legal Studies class. I must say that I was incredibly proud of this group. They were quite attentive and asked a lot of questions, so they were actually thinking about the issues I raised. We had quite a good discussion.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Did they agree with you on the issues?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: The purpose of my discussion was not to say, 'This is the way you need to think,' but, 'These are the issues you need to think about.' That is what a good teacher does and so I did that. As I said, my aim was not to predispose them to a particular view but to say, 'These are the issues you need to think about.' Very few social issues are black and white. There is a lot of grey and different views, and one has to be respectful of that and they were. I think I did a reasonable job in what I did. I am not sure I am made to be a teacher, but certainly the way these young people thought about the issues, asked questions and were very attentive was really good.

We often hear about things that young people do or do not think about. It is interesting that on International Youth Day on 12 August this year I ran a survey amongst five colleges in my electorate. The five colleges were Northern Adelaide Senior College, Mark Oliphant College, Gawler & District College, Trinity College and Xavier College, both government and non-government schools across my electorate and region.

The purpose of the survey was to find out what young people actually think about in my community. I have been told what they think about, but I thought I would actually ask them. It was interesting to note that, when you ask them about what they think about certain issues and you break up the issues into personal issues, if you like, community issues and also international issues, in terms of personal issues the main concern for them was cost of living. These are the things that young people are concerned about—cost-of-living issues—and that does not surprise me. A lot of them work and also try to have a car, etc.

On community issues, the biggest issue for them was the urban built form—in other words, the communities they are living in, in terms of infrastructure and the appearance of their communities. On global issues, the biggest issues were about climate change, but also concerns about safety and conflicts in the world today.

When you think about it, these young people do not think too differently from adults and the issues that worry adults these days. It is great to see that young people think about issues that affect the committee generally rather than just themselves. I am very proud of the young people in my electorate.

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