LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit
Schools’ Newsletter
April 2005
Education Coordinator: Raine Caldwell 8946 1430
Parliament in Alice Springs
The Regional Sitting of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was held in Alice Springs from 22 to 24 March. Over twelve hundred students attended the sittings.
The students were given an introductory briefing before moving into the Chamber to view Parliament in Action. On leaving the Chamber the students were given some time to view an exhibition before having a final debriefing session. The debrief session was designed to consolidate student learning and to allow students to ask any questions about Parliament.
The school tours seemed to run quite smoothly thanks to Heather Tubbenhauer, from Curriculum Services Branch, and her team of fantastic volunteers. Some of the comments from the students included:
“How do they remember all those rules?”
“That was exciting. We didn’t want to leave.” (After Question Time)
“It was interesting to see how they argue about things.”
“Members of Parliament must have to do heaps of homework to be able to talk about all the things they deal with in Parliament.”
“Can we do it again?”
School Activity Books
Every student who attended Parliament in Alice Springs was given an activity book. The activities from this book have been converted to pdf format and are now available on line at www.nt.gov.au/lant . Click on the For Schools Link and then Resources to access them.
Topics available are:
· What is Parliament
· Who Does What
· Three Levels of Government
· Symbols
· Representative Democracy
· Central Australian Electorates
· Role – MLA Central Australia
If you would like resources developed on a particular topic, contact Raine Caldwell either by phone 8946 1430 or email
Parliament of Birds
To coincide with the Regional Sitting of the Legislative Assembly some innovative Alice Springs teachers, Mel Phillips, Sally Seebeck and Sara North, combined forces to present a “Parliament of Birds” based on the education resource Cockatoo Island.
The Government, from Braitling Primary School, and Opposition, from Larapinta Primary School debated the Nest Safety Bill. This was a Bill for an Act to make all birds build their nests in trees for safety reasons. Many arguments were put forward by both sides but in the end the Bill was defeated.
The students presented their debate in the Nature Theatre of the Alice Springs Desert Park, which was a very suitable venue.
The Bill was debated twice. The first
performance was on Friday 18 March and the second on Wednesday 23 March. On the Wednesday, the students and audience were greeted to the park by the drumming group from the Irrkerlantye Learning Centre.
The Alice Springs Desert Park generously waived the admission fee for the students and audience and I’d like to thank Gary Fry, Acting Park Manager, and Jackie Shaughnessy, Admin Manager, for their help, support and enthusiasm for this project.
Cockatoo Island is an excellent resource that introduces the concepts of representation and Parliamentary Democracy to young children and provides teachers with a solid foundation on which to build further Civics and Citizenship Education.
Youth Parliament
The YMCA Youth Parliament was held in Alice Springs from 18 to 21 March. The Youth Parliamentarians came from Centralian Senior Secondary College, OLSH, St Phillip’s College, Tennant Creek High School, and Darwin.
The six day camp is designed to develop delegates self esteem and confidence while familiarising them with Parliamentary processes and procedures. The final two day of the camp saw the students putting their training into practice. They debated four bills and two MPIs.
The following bills were passed:
· Random breath testing to include ‘party drugs’
· Compulsory air-conditioning in all schools
· Amend s34 of the NT criminal code regarding murder convictions
Interestingly the one bill that was not passed was to do with preventative measures for youth mental health problems.
The two MPIs made for interesting debate which reflected the maturity of the students.
§ Education and NT Youth
§ Bullying and Harassment
The following awards were presented:
Best Speaker - Corey McCann
Most Improved – Asta Hill
Whip’s Award – Megan Bobos
United Nations Youth Association Conference
The Northern Territory United Nations Youth Association (NTUNYA) held their second annual conference at Parliament House from 15 – 17 April. Each student was allocated a country to represent and had to find out as much as possible about their country prior to attending the conference. The final day of the conference we held in the Chamber. The students debated three resolutions on:
· Protecting Human Rights
· Religious Freedom, and
· Genetically Modified Food
The students approached the task with diligence and an impressive level of professionalism.
The following students were selected to represent the Northern Territory at the National Conference.
· Fiona Halloran - Casuarina Senior College
· Brian McDonough -Casuarina Senior College
· Ashish Viakyl - Casuarina Senior College
· Corey McCann - Casuarina Senior College
· Tom Wickam - Taminmin
· Damon Milne - Taminmin
· John Paul Thorbjornsen - NTOEC
· James Farnell - Darwin High School
Additionally Verity Griffen and Alison Woodger, both from Casuarina Senior College, were selected to attend the Evatt Conference.
National Schools Constitutional Convention
Five students and two teachers represented the Northern Territory at the National Schools Constitutional Convention.
The students were:
· Tammy Aberdeen – Casuarina Senior College
· Emilio Roberts – Centralian Senior Secondary College
· Jessica Steele – Kormilda College
· Rhea Williams – Tennant Creek High School
· Mark Keogh – Nhulunbuy High School
They were accompanied by two teachers:
· Mr Ian Sharp – Centralian Senior Secondary College
· Ms Hannah Michaelis – Casuarina Senior College
The delegates looked at the role of executive government and debated whether or not ministers should be appointed rather than elected.
Website Revamp
Over the next couple of months the Schools section of the Legislative Assembly Website will be revamped to make it more user friendly. The focus will be on creating activities and resources that can be downloaded and used with a range of age groups.
If you have any ideas or suggestions as to what should be on our site then please don’t hesitate to give me a call on 8946 1430 or email
Statehood
With the appointment of the Statehood Steering Committee, Statehood is now back on the agenda.
Over the next few years Territorians will be canvassed about their attitudes to Statehood and, if the response is positive, another referendum may be held. With this in mind it is important that students, especially those in Year 10 and up, receive accurate information about the implications of Statehood.
We need practicing teachers to help us develop an education strategy for Statehood.
Territory Secondary Schools will be asked to nominate one or two teachers to be part of a Statehood Education Group.
Nomination Forms will arrive in schools soon but if you would like to know more contact me by phone on
89461430 or send me an email
Road Show
The Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit joined forces with the Australia Day Council to visit schools in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. The students participated in role plays, quizzes and general information sessions about Parliament.
This is the first time that the Parliamentary Education program has gone “on the road” and it was very successful. Between 27 February and 4 March we visited 14 schools and presented to over 600 students.
Outreach Program
Inspired in part by the success of the Road Show the Parliamentary Liaison and Information unit has received limited funding to conduct an outreach program. This will involve going into schools and working with teachers and students to set up their own class parliaments.
Once a year we will target an area in the Northern Territory and travel to the schools in that region. We will also be focussing on developing resources for use by teachers in classrooms. These will be available on our website.
If your teach at a Darwin / Palmerston or rural area schools and would like to make a booking for us to visit you can do so by ringing Anna-Maria Socci on 8946 1434 or by sending an email .
If you live in a remote or regional centre then please call Raine Caldwell on 8946 1430 or email
Pathways to Innovation Youth Challenge
Parliament House will be hosting an exciting Youth Challenge on 23 May. Aimed at Years 9 – 12, the program will be looking at innovative ways to manage water resources. For more information, please contact Bernadette Lightfoot from Ryebuck Media on 03 9500 2399. Hope to see you there.