Jemina Nuredini, Madeline Ryan, Kimlynn Reid, Tessa Marshall, Vincent Hardy and Daniel Nguyen are ready to take on the Youth Parliament. 83113 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By XAVIER SMERDON
SITTING in a board room and listening to people passionately call for more infrastructure funding to improve Wyndham’s arterial roads and reduce traffic congestion could make you think you were witnessing a group of politicians at work.
But in fact the newest people to join the fight and advocate for Wyndham are a group of six Year 11 students from Truganina.
The Westbourne Grammar School students will be taking part in the Youth Parliament next week where they will discuss the need for more infrastructure funding in Victoria and Wyndham.
They hope to ultimately get a bill passed and for it to get the attention of Premier Ted Baillieu and eventually become legislation.
Jemina Nuredini, Madeline Ryan, Kimlynn Reid, Tessa Marshall, Vincent Hardy and Daniel Nguyen make up the team that will go to Parliament House.
The students said they came up with the idea of campaigning for more funding around infrastructure after seeing houses replace the paddocks that once surrounded their school.
“We were all just really fed up with the traffic around here and decided that we wanted to do something about it,” Jemina said.
“It’s an issue that will effect more and more people as the State Government continues to sell off land.”
“There is really a lack of foresight from developers who are not planning properly for the future,” Tessa Marshall said.
“All these homes have gone up but the only that have been built are a Red Rooster and a McDonalds.”
The students have also done research to back up their argument, using statistics and figures from documents like Wyndham Council’s traffic management strategy.
The team will complete their Youth Parliament experience on 6 July.
