By Yashika Ramireddy
Imagine being old enough to grasp the decisions being made about your future, but too young to have a role in making them.
This is a reality for young people across the western suburbs of Melbourne. We are mature enough to worry about the cost of living, overcrowded trains, climate change, education, mental health, and whether we will be able to afford a home one day. However, when the topic changes to political decisions, our voices are still being regarded as something for the future.
The Victorian state election on 28 November is a harbinger of how much political decisions impact our daily lives. Most teenagers can’t vote yet, but politicians’ decisions about schools, transport, healthcare, housing, roads, and the environment still play a pivotal role in our daily lives.
So why not allow us to have a greater role in what comes next?
We need to pay attention to young people because they are the ones who experience these challenges every day.
Take transport for instance. Wyndham is one of Australia’s fastest-growing municipalities, and that growth has put pressure on roads, trains and community infrastructure. Wyndham City Council has called on state election candidates to focus on congestion, public transport, health services and community facilities. Even the council claims that the population of Wyndham is expected to grow from 337,000 people to 500,000 in the next twenty years.
When a train or any sort of public transport service is overcrowded or even delayed, this can result in young people arriving at their residence late. The public transport provided to a student can determine whether a young person can set aside time to engage in activities outside of school hours, which include community service, sport training, debating or even volunteering.
Hence, public transport is not just a structural problem. It is an opportunity issue.
This also applies equally towards education. Students engage in schools for a substantial amount of time; however, issues surrounding education are not being discussed with young people enough. Young people have lived experience with challenges in the system of education, most notably the impact of artificial intelligence.
We have approaches worth hearing.
As many have noticed, education is rapidly evolving. Generative artificial intelligence is revolutionising the method in which young people gain knowledge through assistance with homework, learning a new concept and researching information for essays.
Rather than discouraging the use of AI between students, the government should concentrate on how to integrate the concept of artificial intelligence into the education curriculum itself, involving students in conversations about how AI can be incorporated fairly and utilised responsibly.
Young people are engaged in a range of activities. Students hold leadership roles in their schools and advocate for change and volunteer in their communities. Other young people are involved in youth advisory committees and work with local media and other organisations that try to influence policymakers. In the western suburbs of Melbourne‚ young people participate in sports‚ arts‚ environmental‚ and other community groups and advocacy organisations.
We are not waiting to turn 18 to get involved in our communities. We are already members of these organisations. That does not imply that young people should take the place of adults in politics. It means we need to be at the table.
We need politicians visiting schools and speaking with students. We need more young people involved in decisions about education‚ transport‚ climate change‚ new technology‚ and other services in the community. We need politicians to explain to us the reasons behind their decisions‚ as well as the decisions themselves.
Most important is that young people believe they can make a difference by speaking out.
It becomes our community. It becomes our future.
The upcoming Victorian election gives voters an opportunity to ask candidates a simple question: What are you doing to support young people in the west, and will you listen to them as you provide services?
The future is frequently attributed to youth. The future is shaped now by decisions and actions focused on education‚ housing‚ environmental issues‚ and other topics important to youth.
We have the right to represent the communities we will inherit.
And we have the right to be involved in making the rules.
