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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-30 Daily Xml
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MATTERS OF INTEREST

ROSTRUM VOICE OF YOUTH

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:25): Last Saturday I was privileged to represent the Premier at the Anderson Planners 2010 South Australian Rostrum Voice of Youth South Australian final. The final was held at Parliament House in the other place. In attendance was Ms Rachel Sanderson, the member for Adelaide in the other place; the chairperson, Andrew Downing; chairperson of adjudicators, Roger Stanning; Terry Anderson from Anderson Planners (the major sponsor); and a representative of Flinders University, Professor Phyllis Tharenou.

The competition featured a junior and senior section for the Rostrum Voice of Youth final. Coincidentally, it turns out that all of the contestants on that occasion were young women. I did point out in my short address at the beginning that it was perhaps a momentous week to be having the event since we had seen the first woman Governor-General swearing in our first woman Prime Minister, something that the suffragettes depicted in the tapestry on the wall of the House of Assembly would have thought quite inconceivable. I congratulate the sponsors and organisers of the event, particularly Rostrum, but most of all the contestants and particularly their families and teachers who were so supportive of their participation.

In the junior section, there were four contestants. Antonia Kolovos from Immanuel College spoke on 'The turning tide', which she linked to increases in organ donation and particularly in relation to the Hookes Foundation. Hannah Kovilpillai from Seymour College spoke on the 'Best of times' and about advances in modern medicine, including those we can expect in the future and also the advances that we, as a society have made, in combating racism. Freya Harding from Birdwood High School spoke on the topic 'How far will we go?' which was in reference to Asian languages and the importance of their study. Sophie Quinn from Cardijn College was the successful contestant who spoke on the topic 'United we stand', about reconciliation between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. It's lucky the Hon. Mr Lucas isn't here.

In the senior contestant group, Jenny Inverarity from Immanuel College spoke on the topic 'Circle of influence'. She spoke about ethical consumerism and, much to the delight, I am sure, of the Hon. Mr Hunter, she spent some time talking about fair trade coffee and fair trade chocolate, and about how all of us, as consumers, could exercise some influence in improving ethical behaviour around the world.

Magdalene Keji from Mary MacKillop College spoke on the topic 'A hollow victory', about democracy in Africa and particularly that we have to have hope that what may appear to be hollow victories will be overcome, ultimately, by hope and progress. Georgia Hick from Westminster School spoke on the topic 'A paperless media' and talked about immunisation and concerns that she has about immunisation. She talked about things like thalidomide and so on and suggested that immunisation was not something that should be routinely practised.

Finally, and most importantly, the winner of the senior section was Chelsea Dickins from Mount Gambier High School, who also spoke on the 'Circle of influence', particularly about advertising and the local, national and international implications of the Google company and the information it is able to gather on people through its searches. I congratulate particularly Chelsea Dickins from Mount Gambier, whose elder sister, Sarah, won a similar competition a few years ago and has since gone on to become quite active in the community in representing young people.

As I said on the evening, I think it is a great opportunity for those involved in the Voice of Youth program to learn skills that will stand them in good stead in the future in being advocates for their community and for people in the community in a positive way. I congratulate all the contestants, the winners and all those who got to this point.

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