15 Jun 2016
On the 2nd of June our school leaders (Ryan B, Saloni P, Rosie M and myself) attended a "Primary School Leaders Morning Tea" at NSW parliament house in Sydney. While there we received permission from our representative in the legislative assembly Matt Kean to observe both a legislative assembly in session and a legislative council in session.
Also there were Sharni Layton, part of the Australian netball team, and Jason King, a rugby league player who plays for the Manly Sea Eagles. Both gave very inspirational speeches about themselves, leadership and how they got to the position they are in today. Also mentioned by Jason King was the "three D's" consisting of discipline, determination and dedication which, according to him, will help you get almost anywhere in life, if it's politics, sport or any number of other professions. They also talked about that when they started they weren't anywhere near as good a player as they are today, and it all came to their attitude towards it, which just goes to show that you can do anything that you want to as long as you keep persisting and maintaining a positive attitude.
Matt Kean also mentioned that it's important to have a good mentor or role model to look up to. And if you have a role model it's very important that you reach out to them. In his instance he looked up to John Howard (an Australian Prime Minister) and wrote a letter to him. Soon after he got a reply asking him to go to Parliament House in Canberra for lunch. It proves that what Matt Kean said before is true, it's important to reach out to your role models.
We also learnt a great deal about how politics works, and my fellow captains and I took a lot away from it. If you are interested about politics or other details about our amazing experience there I am more then happy to answer any questions you may have. And remember the three D's : Discipline, Determination and Dedication and you should be able to achieve almost anything you want to.
By Jack Lisle