By KATH GANNAWAY
MILLWARRA Primary School students have had a practical lesson in how the wheels of government turn. It can be a big leap from watching politicians on TV debating the big issues in parliament to getting basic things like a muddy bus stop fixed.
But for the Grade 5 and 6 students the process that saw their ‘issue’ raised in State Parliament and recorded in Hansard was an encouraging result for all the hard work they put in to writing to local, state and federal representatives.
School captains Blake Olcorn and Meredith Simmons wrote on behalf of the class, saying that in winter the bus stop gets very muddy and wet.
“We need it fixed so that the students who catch the bus don’t have to walk through the mud and water,” they wrote.
They said that in winter that meant wet and cold feet all the way home adding, “It is a very big problem.”
Eildon MP Cindy McLeish visited the area and saw the problem and raised the students’ concerns with the Minister for Roads and Road Safety in parliament in October.
“The mud and water spanned some two metres, and it was very easy to see how children who travel by bus could have difficulty getting on and off the bus,” Ms McLeish said.
Returning to the school on 4 November, Ms McLeish spoke to the students about the levels of government and how important it is to participate as citizens.
