Wednesday, 19 March 2025

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:47): We as politicians put ourselves up for public critique on a daily basis, but there is nothing that can quite prepare you for being judged on appearance alone by 50-odd year 9 students. That is what happened last week when Mr Limbrick, the member for Mornington in the other place and I took part in a special civics class being taught by Flinders Christian Community College to its year 9 cohort. The forum involved the three of us, plus a community member standing in as a far-left party rep, answering the same questions put to us on a wide range of topics. The year 9s were asked to vote at three different points. The first, as I mentioned, was when we had just walked in the room, with no other context. That was terrifying. The second was after we had answered the round of questions, and the third was at the very end once our names and our party affiliations had been revealed. On that basis, and a bet is a bet, I wish to enthusiastically congratulate Mr Limbrick on coming first in both the second and third rounds of voting. Though I am disappointed I did not prevail, a steady second place in all three votes I was happy to claim. I would like to thank very much Michael McLean and the team at Flinders, all of my fellow panellists and especially the students themselves for their really great enthusiasm and excitement. The civics program at Flinders sets an excellent example for effective civics education. It is a model I hope to see replicated by other schools right across the state.