About the Program

Meet the 2013 QYP Youth Members…

Each year, 93 youth members (representing Queensland’s 89 state electorates, as well as 4 additional Indigenous electorates) are selected by the Queensland Youth Parliament Executive team - according to their drive to make a positive change within their community and the diversity they can bring to the program.

Please find a list of our Youth Members who were successful in their nomination to be apart of the 2013 program below:

For privacy purposes only the first name has been released for youth members, please contact the Program Coordinator, Helen Lane, via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further contact details. Alternatively, you can email the youth member directly via their QYP email addresses (listed above) to obtain further contact details.

Who? What? When? Where? How?

WHO?

QYP is open to any person from the ages of 15 to 25 (inclusive). The only prerequisites are interest and enthusiasm, as we teach you about anything you’ll need to know about Parliament. To apply fill out a nomination form here, and applicants will be chosen by the Executive to represent each electorate. If you miss out one year we encourage you to reapply, as selections are always very close, but unfortunately there are a limited number of places in the program.

WHAT / WHERE?

WHEN?

HOW IS IT RUN?

The YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament program initiative of the State Council of YMCA’s of Queensland Inc. and is operated by the YMCA of Brisbane. The YMCA oversees the running of the YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament and has done so since the program’s inception 17 years ago.

The Brisbane YMCA employs a coordinator who works with the Executive team to run the program. The Executive are a team of volunteers selected from past participants by a panel of the coordinator, the past Youth Governor (who is elected by the executive at the beginning of each year) and a YMCA representative.

The Executive which will oversee all operations of the YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament through various roles and encompasses 19 dynamic volunteers (all of whom are trained to work with young people and are licensed by The Commission For Children, Young People and The Child Guardian), aged between 15 to 25 years of age (inclusive), to ensure that this is truly a youth event; organised by youth, for youth.

About The Program

To begin the parliamentary aspect of the program, Youth Members break into Committees based on an area of interest and are assign-

ed a mentor experienced in parliamentary protocol and legislative writing. Committees then discuss issues, which they feel need to be tackled until they strike upon something the entire committee would like to debate in Queensland Parliament House. At this point the Committee will break in half so that one side will write a Bill (the Sponsoring Team) and another side writes amendments to improve this Bill (the Refuting Team). Once these have all been written, Youth Members will assemble in Brisbane for one week in the September-October mid-semester break and argue for and against their ideas in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland's Parliament. Youth Bills that are passed by the Youth Parliament will be signed by the Youth Governor and passed onto the Members Queensland Parliament for consideration.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Similar to the Parliamentary Committees, Youth Members once again break into smaller groups based both on interest and also on their region of Queensland, to encourage cooperation between Youth Members within certain areas of Queensland. Each Regional Committees is assigned a mentor and together will identify and discuss problems and issues within their community and devise practical action plans to respond and address these issues. In the past committees have worked with groups such as Family Planning Queensland and Drug Arm, whereas other committees have chosen to set up various events or infrastructure using their own resources. The main aim is to encourage greater community involvement on any level, and show Youth Members how easy and enjoyable these activities are and how integral they are in supporting meaningful change in the community.