Good News Stories
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Time to reform Section 96 of the Constitution?
March 2024
From Tuesday 19 March to Thursday 21 March 2024 Riley Townsend from Toolooa State High School will be among 95 Year 11 and 12 students from around Australia attending the 29th National Schools Constitutional Convention (NSCC), being held at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra. The program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education (DOE), coordinated by National Curriculum Services (NCS) and supported by the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) and department of education from all states and territories.
The topic for the 2024 Convention is, ‘Section 96 of the Constitution allows the Commonwealth to grant funds to areas that fall outside those prescribed in Section 51. Should Section 96 be amended to decentralise the power of the Commonwealth?’. This topic will provide students with the opportunity to examine Sections 51 and 96 of the Australian Constitution and discuss if the power of the Commonwealth should be decentralised. A range of stimulus speakers will discuss the issues with students for them to debate with all delegates.
Outcomes from the Convention will be incorporated into a Communiqué that will be forwarded to the President of the Senate, Senator Sue Lines, for tabling in Parliament and recorded in Hansard.
As a national delegate Riley will travel with 22 other students from their state or territory.
Quote from Riley Townsend: “I feel that this is a wonderful opportunity to better my understanding of a legislation that governs the way in which our nation is run, and I am looking forward to being a part of it”.
Other elements of the program will include the Prime Minister’s Reception at Parliament House, a meeting with the Governor-General, The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) at Government House, and an official dinner at the National Press Club.
University of Queensland Young Changemakers Program
From Sunday 26th to Wednesday 29th of November last year, I attended University of Queensland’s Young ChangeMakers program in Brisbane; a four day residential camp at the UQ St Lucia Campus. The Young ChangeMakers program is designed to nurture and develop students like myself, by providing this opportunity for extension and enrichment. During my time in the program, I was able to gain insight from the various informative sessions available. This included sessions such as Witness the Impact, where we had to choose three unique ‘electives’ to attend. For the program, my three elective sessions included ‘Institute for Molecular Biosciences’, ‘Languages as your Employability Superpower’, and, ‘Discovering the World of Medicine, Biomedical Sciences and Public Health’.
During these sessions, we participated in a wide range of hands-on activities, using scientific equipment and technologies, to tackle and design solutions for creating change. We focussed on our problem solving and teamworking skills, in order to come up with a ‘solution for impact’. We also had multiple opportunities to hear from many guest speakers, including Dr Gurion Ang, who provided his own insights and experiences from his field of research, enlightening us with his wisdom. While there were many informative sessions, there were multiple fun opportunities for myself to interact with various likeminded students from other schools within Queensland, hearing about their own career aspirations and interests.
(Year 12 student, Jiexi)