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Hi there.
It's Bryce here.
And that audio you just heard is from Question Time.
What's Question Time?
It's a really important part of the way our democracy works, where all the politicians that represent you and I in Canberra get together in a big room called the House of Representatives in Parliament House and ask each other questions.
Now, That might sound polite and refined, but sometimes it's not.
Sometimes, as you may have seen on the nightly news, it's grown men and women shouting at each other.
And there's one person who sits in the middle of it all, trying to keep the peace.
His name is Milton Dick.
He's what's known as the House Speaker.
And it's his job to keep rowdy politicians in line.
And he's asked for the kids of Australia to help him out.
Welcome to the first ever Squiz Kids Question Time Takeover.
Hello and welcome to this very special Squiz Kids QA, the podcast where you, the kids of Australia, get to ask the questions.
Except this time around, instead of asking questions, you're making suggestions.
Specifically suggestions of what our very special guest House Speaker, the Honourable Milton Dick MP, should say to politicians in federal parliament when they start to get a little bit rowdy.
Milton Dick, welcome to Squeeze Kids.
Well, thank you.
I'm looking forward to all of these great ideas about how we might improve parliament, because I think your listeners will have some excellent ideas and I can't wait to hear them.
Let's get straight into it now.
The kids of Australia have been sending in, as you've said, some excellent suggestions of things that you might say or that techniques that you might use whilst you're presiding over the House of Representatives to calm the farm, shall we say, and to get those sometimes argumentative politicians to behave themselves.
But before we get into those, I wonder if you could tell us exactly what your job is in our federal parliament.
Well, the Speaker has an important role to do to effectively be the umpire or the referee, to make sure everyone in the Parliament, the 150 other members of Parliament, are doing the right thing.
So my job is to adjudicate.
My job is to make sure that everyone follows the rules.
Now, not all the time that happens.
Most of the time it does.
So I've got to make sure the rules are followed or what we call the standing orders.
They're the rules of Parliament.
So they've got to be followed.
And I've got to make sure my number one job is that everyone shows each other respect, because that's how I was raised, with a mum and dad who always taught me how you treat people is how you expect to be treated.
So that's kind of my job.
And there's a whole lot of other things I need to do to represent the parliament and democracy.
But that's probably my number one job.
And an important job it is too.
Now, most kids I know think politics and Australia's democracy have nothing to do with them, that it's all adult stuff.
They can't vote until they're 18 anyway.
But why is it that kids should take an interest in how our government works?
Well, they need to learn about how our government works because one day they'll be running it.
So you've got to make sure that everyone has the skills, the equipment and the knowledge to make sure that they are informed citizens.
So I always say to people, I don't care about who you vote for.
I want you to care about who you are voting for.
I'm not interested in who that person is, but I want every citizen and every young person to think about who they want to represent them.
And then through that person, what their ideas, hopes and dreams are for the country.
Excellent advice.
Now a lot of kids who are listening to this will go on a school excursion to Canberra with their primary school and visit federal parliament.
But for those who can't get there, you've come up with a clever program called Parliament in Schools, where you take federal parliament to classrooms around the country.
How does that work?
Well, kids get the chance to have parliament in their classroom and in their school hall where they get to take over Australia for about 30 or 40 minutes and they get to pass the laws and they get to understand the role of our Governor-General, how the Parliament works and why we have laws or why they're done in a certain way.
So it gives a really practical, good go at how our Parliament works.
Perhaps if you can't come to Parliament, Parliament can come to you.
And that's what we do with Schools in Parliament.
And if there are schools listening or teachers thinking gosh, I'd really like that to happen at my school.
How do they get involved?
Well, they should talk to their teachers and perhaps get in contact with the Parliamentary Education Office or peogovau.
And that is a good resource starting point that operates the Schools in Parliament program.
And if there is a special request, I might even be able to visit that school with the Parliamentary Education Office or indeed the local federal member for that area, because every member of parliament has around 40 or 50 schools in their electorate.
And I'm encouraging all the other members of parliament to go and visit each of their schools and to take the parliament to every single school in their electorate.
And this term, I'll be visiting every electorate in Australia.
I can't visit every school in Australia.
I'd like to. but I'll be visiting every part of Australia.
So you never know, some of your listeners or some of your teachers might even have me in their classroom.
That's amazing.
150 electorates.
That's a lot of travel for you.
Yeah.
Well, every corner of Australia there is a potential prime minister, maybe a speaker sitting in a classroom somewhere.
It could be in Cooktown.
It could be in Central Australia.
It could be even off the coast of Tasmania.
You never know.
So I've had the privilege of visiting hundreds of schools across Australia since I've become the speaker.
And without a doubt, it's the best part of the job, because I get to hear and understand every different view and idea across Australia.
And for me, that's really valuable.
Absolutely.
Now, we've just returned just this morning from Forest Lake State School in your electorate, where we did a session of newshounds together with the kids in grade four.
Shout out to the kids in grade four.
Now, first of all, what did you think of it?
And secondly, why do you think it's important for kids to always do as squeezy?
The newshound says, and that's stop, think and check. before believing everything they see online?
Well, I think there is a lot of what we learned today.
Misinformation and disinformation out there online.
And what I learned this morning is sometimes people do that for their own gain.
Perhaps it's to harm another politician or maybe to make some money or who knows.
So I think providing those kids with the information makes them better citizens, but also makes them better critical thinkers.
And that's what we did today.
The kids got to look at certain types of social media and work out what was fake and what was real.
And it was really good.
And, of course, the topic on the lips of lots of kids and parents around the country is the upcoming teen social media ban.
As we sit here today, it's one month away.
Why is it important, do you think, for kids to not be on those platforms before they are 16?
Well, I think there's a lot of information out there that kids simply don't need to know about.
It's not necessary.
And some of it is harmful.
And I think it's really important to make sure that when you're old enough to get that information, you can make up your own mind, but not before.
Absolutely.
Now, as I mentioned at the top of the podcast, for the past month we've been asking Squiz Kids to help you out with your job.
On the TV news at night, we often see you in the middle of politicians shouting at one another.
Shouting Order.
Order!
Would the member for Woop Woop please sit down?
And because kids are quite often themselves having to be put back on their best behaviour by teachers or parents.
We asked them to send in suggestions of things you might say in Parliament or techniques that you might use to turn chaos into calm.
Well, I think there would be a lot of good suggestions out there, because sometimes Parliament does get a little bit noisy and I like people to have their voices heard, but I want them to do it respectfully.
So I'm all ears.
Because this is the important thing about any democracy, isn't it?
And we talk about this a lot at Squeeze Kids is that it's okay to have a different opinion to somebody and it's okay to argue that opinion, as long as you do it in a respectful way.
Yeah.
And I think, when there's so much noise out there and sometimes there can be bullying or there can be things that are hurtful that sometimes people say, even by accident, we've got to find a way in society, and Parliament included, to to treat each other with respect and to disagree in a nice way.
Because you can have a different view to someone and you and I might have a disagreement over something, but that doesn't mean that you're a bad person.
It doesn't mean that your idea is any more or less important than anyone else's.
It just means it's different.
So I like to see that people can disagree nicely.
There you go.
Disagree nicely.
Now, we had so many entries sent in and a huge thank you to everybody that sent in a suggestion.
Are you ready to go through what I think are probably the top 10?
I'm ready.
Okay.
And our first suggestion comes from seven-year-old Lily from Adelaide.
And she suggests that you say, quiet, this is not a monkey house.
This is a parliament house.
What do you think about one?
I like it, but I don't want to think that anyone thinks that they're a monkey, because that might make people feel that oh, are they making too much noise?
But it could be a good tool to use to shock and awe people if they heard I I don't think a speaker's ever said the word monkey house.
So maybe I could be breaking a little bit of history.
But that's a good start, Lily.
But...
I'm interested to see what else we can do without making fun of anyone.
All right.
Okay, excellent.
Our next suggestion then comes from Isla, who lives in Clayfield in Brisbane.
And she says that you should do like our teacher does when they want us to be quiet.
They put their index finger in front of their lips and say, flat tire, shh.
Do you think that might work?
Flat tire?
Oh, you mean that the air is coming out of the flat tire?
Yeah, I like that one.
That's good, Isla.
I think that could be one of my things I put in my toolkit to make sure.
And I think, if I put my finger to my lips, that everyone would be watching and saying what is he going to do.
And as soon as i do that, i think everyone would stop and listen immediately.
Okay, nice one.
There we go isla, well done.
Okay, now here's a good one from grade four, five and six at gournong primary school in country victoria.
They've suggested that you announce very loudly one, two and then the members of parliament will all respond in unison eyes on you.
How do you think that might go down?
Well, I've got to make sure everyone understands what one two, eyes on you is, because I could just say one, two and then people might think I'm going to say three four, five.
So I need to make sure I'll have to tell a few people eyes on you is the next one.
So I might have to use that one, but tell a few people about that one.
That's a good idea.
Just prime a few people ahead of time.
Just a handful, just a handful.
Yep, yep, good.
Or what about this one from Clark, who's in year two at Murrumbateman Public School in country New South Wales, just to the south of Yass, who says that when his class has been a bit chaotic, his teacher, Miss McLaughlin, calls out waterfall and the whole class then puts their hands up in the air and responds shh like a waterfall.
Yes, I like that one, and that's a really good idea because I could even stand up and I'm pretty tall.
I could stand up in that big chair and if I did the hands up in the air and the waterfall, I think everyone would immediately stop listen and think.
They would.
So, That's probably one of my favourites at the moment so far.
Yeah, well done.
That's an excellent suggestion from Clark there.
All right.
Now time to drag you Milton, deep into the kids' verse with a suggestion from nine-year-old Hudson, who wrote in to say that his teacher has developed a new technique to quieten down his class when they're being a bit noisy, and that's to stand in front of the class and shout four five, and can you guess what?
They shout back.
Four, five, or one, two was eyes on you.
Four, five, something thrive?
You would think, but no, they shout back, six, seven.
Has that expression crossed your consciousness?
I have heard that my sister is a school teacher and I think I've heard her say that she teaches year four.
So I think that could be in the mix, but I'd have to practice that one.
I'd have to practice that one a lot.
And you would probably have to expect that the members of Parliament were young and groovy enough to know what to do.
Well, we do have a few new young members.
We've got even someone in the Senate who's 19 years old.
That's amazing.
I know.
She might know about that.
All right.
We'll check in with her, perhaps.
And an excellent suggestion.
Thank you so much to Hudson.
All right.
Now here's a good one from the kids in Grade 5 at St Peter's Primary School in Clayton in suburban Melbourne.
They're suggesting when things get a bit unruly in the House of Reps that you loudly declare...
God gave you two ears and one mouth because he wanted to see more listening and less talking.
That sounds like something I probably would say in the parliament.
Yeah, I like that one.
Or how about this one from seven-year-old Hudson, from Brownhill, just outside Ballarat in country Victoria?
Hello to everyone in Brownhill.
He says that when his Auskick coach is trying to get the kids to quieten down and pay attention, he simply stands still with his hand raised and doesn't say a word.
One by one, the kids all raise their hands and stop talking until there's complete silence.
Ah yes, I've seen that done myself in school assemblies, and that one definitely works.
Would it work in federal parliament?
I think so because there'd be enough members of parliament who's visited schools across Australia that everyone would have seen that one.
So that's an oldie but a goodie, as we say.
So I might actually think about doing that in the final week, because everyone would know straight away, because everyone's been in the classroom and everyone knows that one always works.
Now Squid's kids are going to be very excited to tune in to the next sitting of Parliament to see which of their suggestions is being utilised.
OK, we're in the home stretch now.
Only a few more to go and it's up to 17 Mile Rocks in Brisbane, not far from where we're sitting right now.
And we go to four-year-old Elodie, who has a rather cheeky suggestion.
She thinks that you should say to noisy members of Parliament hands on bottoms, now speak in quiet voices.
Do you suppose you're allowed to ask MPs to put their hands on their bottoms?
Well, a speaker can do anything.
And because Elodie lives in my area, I'm going to have to say that is one of the best ones, because she lives locally and I represent her mum and dad in the parliament.
So I'm going to try and find out where she goes to school.
And I might even try that, practice that one at her school and see if it works.
All right, Elodie, you're on notice.
We're going to find out where you go to school and you may be having a visit. from Milton himself.
All right, let's pop down now to Sydney, Western Sydney to be precise, where Pranya, from Oran Park, has what I think is an excellent suggestion for something you might say, and that is this is a place to change the country, not to argue.
That's a really good statement.
And sometimes in the Parliament.
I have to state the obvious and remind people the privilege that they have of sitting in the Parliament, but also the responsibilities of that they have in the parliament.
So that's a really good one.
That fits the role for members of parliament for me to remind them how lucky they are to be there, but also the job is to change the country, not just to simply yell at each other.
Excellent.
Now further south, we go to Livingston in suburban Melbourne, where Vyas from one of my favourite classes, that's Ms Vantarax's class at Livingston Primary School, shout out to you all down there has an excellent suggestion, namely
VR suggests that you should ask the misbehaving politician to stand up for one minute in silence, not participate in discussion.
And if they disobey again after that, you should send them outside the House of Reps to stand up for the rest of the parliamentary sitting.
Well, I can already do that under the rules, but that's taking it to the next level of actually, because normally when I ask people to leave, they've got to leave straight away.
Maybe they stand in their place for a minute and then they have to leave.
Now, I don't think people would like that.
But it would be very effective because everyone would be looking at them.
That would remind everyone don't do the wrong thing, because all eyes are going to be on that person.
And can you do that?
Yes, I can remove people from the parliament under the rules are supposed to leave straight away.
So maybe I could say to them when you leave, stand outside for one minute and think about what you've done.
This is democracy in action, people.
Suggestions coming from kids of Australia that could be incorporated into Australian Parliament.
Now, here's a good one from Ishbel in Tasmania.
She suggests that you try a clap pattern and you clap out.
Let me see if I can do this.
Be quiet.
It's time to listen now.
Do you think that could work?
Well, I'm worried that could be too much noise with the clapping if everyone started clapping.
I do like sometimes when I'm at schools and people don't do a lot of clapping.
They just do the one big clap.
Yeah.
I do like that all at once.
So maybe we could incorporate a joint clap when everyone's done the right thing in the parliament.
Okay.
That could be the reward.
All right.
Lots of things here to mull over after this.
All right.
Our second, last suggestion now comes from Travis and Emmeline from Currie Currie in New South Wales, just to the west of Newcastle.
And they suggest that you say...
Hocus pocus.
And then you get all the politicians in the House of Representatives to respond with everybody focus.
I like that one because we've just had Halloween.
So it's pretty fresh in the thinking.
And maybe I could try that one and everyone would be in so much shock.
But I could once again tell one or two of the parliament talk about focus.
And then everyone goes, how did they know?
And I say, oh, well, that's just the luck of the draw.
Magic.
Magic as it happens.
And our last suggestion comes from Mrs Blaine and her class S2B at Bolwara Public School in country New South Wales.
She suggests you use the PAX good behaviour game technique, which involves you playing a couple of notes on a harmonica, which all the kids at Bolwara know means the teacher has had enough of their rowdiness and they fall silent immediately.
What do you reckon?
If I got you a harmonica on behalf of the kids from Bolwara, would you be able to do that?
I'm not a very good harmonica player.
So, Mrs Blaine, I will have to do a little bit of practice, but I'm willing to give it a go if I can get my hands on a harmonica.
And I do one of those courses online.
You know you can learn to play the harmonica, but I'd want to make sure I was doing it correctly.
I should also note that they've also sent in a note to say they're super excited to be coming to Parliament House in Canberra on a field trip next year and they hope to see you in action in the House of Reps.
Well, I'm going to keep an eye out for Mrs Blaine's class and if Parliament's sitting and we don't know the calendar yet, I'm going to pop along and I might even try my harmonica skills on the students when I get there.
Wow, you heard it here first.
Well, that's all we have time for.
What about all those amazing suggestions?
They're fantastic and...
A lot of them I'd never thought of before, but I've now got some great new tools for my toolkit that I can look at and I reckon I'm going to use at least a couple of them when we go back.
And before we go, I should also say that this won't be the last we hear of you on Squiz Kids.
In the next couple of weeks we'll be announcing an exciting competition for one lucky winner to travel to Canberra and spend a day at Parliament House meeting Milton, attending a session of Question Time and maybe even meeting the Prime Minister and Governor-General.
Stay tuned for details on how you can enter to win this once-in-a-lifetime competition.
Well, that's all we have time for.
Thank you, Milton, for joining us on Squeeze Kids.
Love to be here and can't wait to come back again.
And thank you to all of the kids who sent in so many wonderful suggestions.
We had hundreds and we would love to have read them all out, but we just ran out of time.
Now Milton, it's customary here on Squiz Kids for our special guest to do the traditional Squiz Kids sign-off.
Do you think you can help out?
I sure can.
Now get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
