Senior ŌC Visit to Parliament

Collaboratively co-authored by:  Jeana Bevan, Keita Broughton-Alp, Finn Butler, Arnyah McCleod, James Auld, Joy O’Dwyer, Whetu Neal and Ms Lees

Photos by Mrs Putt and Finn Butler

What a Day!

Senior Gateway and History Classes Levels 1-3 classes were offered the opportunity to travel to Parliament for an in-depth tour of the buildings, archives and how the different systems within Parliament work. This was a special opportunity coordinated with former ŌC student, Jordan Potaka, Mrs. Putts, and Ms. Lees. Our itinerary included several opportunities not available to the public.

Our day at Parliament started at 9:30 am having morning tea with Suze Redmayne, the National MP for Rangitīkei. We asked her questions about her life as an MP, and she asked us about our thoughts on National putting restrictions on social media for under 16s, a topic that most of our group had strong opinions on. 

After morning tea, we went to the Library and learnt how to find information using old-fashioned card catalogues, and locating the original newspaper articles on varied topics from the past. This was explained to us as part of the job of a Researcher who helps to provide facts and summaries of information to Members of Parliament.  It was emphasised that we need both strong research and communication skills to report back.

After our hard slog in the archives, we were introduced to the Education liaison, Whaea Adelaide, who took us into a “mock” Debating Chamber and Educational Tour Room, to learn more about roles within Parliament. Here we were all given roles to play as Members of Parliament - take a look at Joy O’Dwyer, Speaker of the House, concentrating on the events. 

We were also allowed into the Post-Cabinet Press Conference room.  We recognised this space from numerous COVID press conferences. Here, Keita and Jeana volunteered as Prime Minister and Deputy PM of Ōtaki College while the rest of us, acted as journalists and  bombarded them with questions surrounding topics of interest for students at our kura.  All students had to think quickly on their feet and feel the pressure of the “press” demands. We had seen some of this pressure earlier as the media surrounded Prime Minister Luxon on the black and white tiles, while he was on his way to the Caucus meeting.

Then we went to the National Caucus room for a chat with Ōtaki National MP, Tim Costley and MP for Hamilton West, and Minister for Conservation, Tama Potaka. It was a great opportunity to ask any questions we wanted.  Matua Tama described his job as Conservation Minister and spoke about how they were trying to get families out of motels and hotels and into homes. 

From here, we moved to a Select Committee room where we were assigned roles to discuss why we thought our role was most important within government. Keita, Mrs Putt and Hine won this debate advocating for the peoples’ voice.  We also proposed and discussed a radical new law as part of the simulation about how bills are presented for debate in Parliament.

Lastly, the biggest and most interesting part of the trip was sitting in on Question Time. The ministers had been on break for three weeks, and it was their first day back, which meant they were asking hard-hitting questions that made it a disorderly and memorable event. 

Overall, this was a great interactive experience we all enjoyed and would recommend to future senior students. Thank you to Mrs Putt for taking us on the trip and to all the organizers and speakers we encountered.