Committees and Bills


2010 Committees and Bills


EDUCATION, ARTS AND TRAINING COMMITTEE

Currently not all Queensland High School students in Years 8 and 9, from both government and non-government sectors do not have the opportunity to experience the variety of Arts subjects that the State has to offer. According to the Queensland Studies Authority Essential Learnings guidelines, 5 subjects comprise the Key Learning Area (KLA) of The Arts in Queensland; Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Art. Every student, no matter which part of the State they reside, deserves the opportunity to immerse themselves in these Arts orientated subjects in order to broaden their overall learning skills and open greater opportunities to themselves in Years 10, 11 and 12 of their schooling.

 

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

This bill is about the preservation of prime agricultural land in Queensland. Firstly, it seeks to prioritise the use of prime agricultural land for farming use above any mining interests. This is in recognition of impending food shortages and the continually declining amount of quality farming land. Essentially, declared areas will be prevented from being used for mining, and will be preserved exclusively for agricultural use. The bill also seeks to preserve agricultural land through programs and initiatives aimed at preventing and curing the increasing problem of salinity. Particularly, these will aim to develop sustainable farming practices and regenerate denegrated land. Essentially, this bills seeks to set-up a sustainable supply of farming products for Queensland's future.

 

JUSTICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL

This bill is a social development of young people from adolescence into adulthood. This bill will look at creating free parenting courses for young parents before and after the child is born using the teaching styles of PPP and Relationship Aust. It also will look into Reproductive Rights (IVF, Surrogacy and Adoption) and making the process fair and just for all. The cosmetic industry will also be discussed in this youth bill with tattoos, piercings, cosmetic surgery and solariums being the main focus.  The last section of this youth bill is minimal age, this looks at creating 18 as the minimal age at which a young person can drink, smoke, vote and engage in sexual intercourse.

 

INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

The Indigenous Affairs Committee 2010 has decided to produce a youth bill that introduces additional to parliament specifically for Indigenous representatives.  The Indigenous Affairs Comittee sought to address issues such as societal discrimination against indigenous Australians by giving them a voice and a representative to take their needs and issues to the highest level.

 

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLANNING

The RDIP bill proposes that the Queensland expansion has been playing regional planning catch-up for too long. Master planning outside of South East Queensland is limited and infrastructure struggles to keep up with the resources boom of Queensland. This bill proposes that not only has Queensland planning and infrastructure become too centralised, but it’s at the detriment of the state’s productivity and the people’s quality of life. As the next step from council amalgamations, the RDIP bill legislates the transition from the current three tiered system and looks to the future of a two tiered system in Queensland. By legislating the reform, it forces the hand of necessary infrastructure projects, efficiently supports regional economic interests and aptly manages the problem of land spread against population boom which will only become more problematic in the future

 

COMMUNITY, HOUSING AND DISABILITY SERVICES

Communities, Housing and Disability Services Youth Bill of 2010 is about defining youth rights and providing  education, support and services for all youth in Queensland. The Bill is spilt up into three sections. The first section sets out the rights that all youth between the ages of 13-25 have in Queensland. These rights will include education, health, religious belief, legal representation and freedom of speech.  The second part of the Bill will introduce a new compulsory subject to schools for grades 8-10. The subject will be called life skills and will focus on educating youth on how to look after themselves and provide information on services they can access in times of need. The final section of the Bill will ensure all youth have adequate access to youth services such as shelter and health care. This Bill aims to ensure youth always have support in Queensland and are not ignored or forgotten by the government and state legislation.

 

HEALTH SPORT AND RECREATION

The motives of this bill are aimed at the obesity crisis. Australia has the largest percentage of obese people in the world, and Queensland has the largest percentage of obese people in Australia. Consequently, the youth of Queensland are exposed to a world of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle choices. This bill aims to provide a health reform, consequently tackling the excessively growing issue of obesity amongst the youth of Queensland. It aims to reduce obesity through using several different means. The strategies used are implementations such as increased physical activity in schools, nutritional classes given at schools, sporting incentives and specifically banned foods which greatly contribute to the alarmingly growing rate of obesity. The plan of attack threefold, targeting the areas of nutrition, physical activity and education. These three angles ensure that the youth will be greatly influenced to be healthier, hence directly addressing the issue at hand – obesity.

 


 

2009 Committees and Bills

In 2009 we had six committees who have all worked writing bills and amendments since our forum day in April. Below are summaries of all the Bill ideas which the Youth Members have worked on in their groups. 


For the finished products, see Past Debates.


Primary Industries, Natural Resources and Environment

 

The PINE Youth Bill seeks to reduce the effects of non-source point water pollution (such as run-off from farms and seepage of pollutants into the water table) on our waterways and coral reefs. This will be achieved by regular auditing of significant waterways by the EPA, followed by subsequent audits of properties, businesses and mines if a problem is identified. If a source of pollution is identified, this Bill seeks to rectify it though the implementation of management plans, with the aim of minimizing further waterway pollution.


Education, Arts and Training

 

The Education, Training and Arts Bill looks to take school education to a new direction. The addition of financial incentives, classes based on learning style, flexible learning hours and more involved parent and teacher interviews looks to change the way the students interact with their education system. This aims to try and reduce the issue of truancy by also addressing aspects of teacher training so that they are more equipped to look after particular student needs.

 

Indigenous Affairs

 

The Indigenous Affairs Committee’s Bill is called the Indigenous Youth Cultural Studies and Economic Opportunities Youth Act. The main focus of the Bill is to decrease youth boredom, alcohol abuse and sniffing but to also focus on Indigenous culture that has been lost through European occupation. This is achieved by introducing cultural schools in all DOGIT communities to bring back traditional culture lost in assimilation, initiating a contract between teachers and students to encourage all students to stay in school, presenting all state schools with a Community Engagement Officer and making Indigenous studies a compulsory subject from grade 8-12. These initiatives will be assisted by allowing tax breaks for business wanting to set up in DOGIT communities, establishing economic opportunities for community members.  

 

Regional Development, Infrastructure and Planning

 

The 2009 Regional Development, Infrastructure and Planning Bill focuses on the formation of a statutory body to coordinate all related Government Departments to research, develop, plan and implement integrated land use and transport planning in addition to integrated resource and environmental management across all major population centres in Queensland. Similar to the SEQRP and SEQIPP initiatives, the aim of the body is to put long term infrastructure planning in place to support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes. Additionally the bill will also introduce mechanisms to improve competition in the in government tender processes.

 

Health and Emergency Services

 

The HES Bill creates a committee within Queensland Health that will aim to establish health clinics in disadvantaged areas. These clinics will look at providing free health to youths (up to 25), be powered mainly by volunteers who will also receive free health from the clinics, and will be accessible to schools, universities and community centres.

 

Justice and Attorney General

 

The JAG Bill focuses on changing the age of being trialled as an adult to eighteen to align Queensland with other states and international standards. The Bill hopes to introduce alternative sentences other than the ones in the Juvenile Justice Act 1995. If re-offending occurs or if the crime is of a very serious nature the offender can be made to do either Scouts (if under 13 years), cadets (if 13-15 years) or a year in the Army Forces or Reserves.  The Bill believes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders should be brought in to the trial proceed if the offender if indigenous (like the Murri Courts).

 

Multicultural and Community Services

 

The Multicultural and Community Services Bill aims to develop a perpetual culture of service and civil responsibility amongst the coming generations. In a flexible program established within existing government institutions, 16-21 year olds are required to fulfil 100 hours of community service each year for the entirety of the 5 year period. The Bill emphasises the undeniable value of civil service in personal and public life and so the program is entirely devoid of academic merit. Instead, it is to be conceived as the civic duty of citizens in order to enjoy civic rights. Additionally, non-compliance with this program will incur penalties.