Arrive Alive Program

During Law Week - 88 Year 11 and 12 students from high schools throughout NSW 'became' Members of Parlaiment for a debate on whether to amend the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulations 1999 Bill.
Their debate related to replacing:-

1. Section 10(2) of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulation 1999 with:
10(2) The relevant eligibility requirement for a learner licence for a motor vehicle of a type to which a driver licence of class C relates is that the person is at least 17 years of age.

2. Section 6(1) of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulation 1999 with:
6(1) A female is eligible to apply for a car licence if she is 18 years of age or over. A male is eligible to apply for a car licence if he is 19 years of age or over.

Thursday 3 April, 2008
Students were accommodated in their party rooms in Parliament House - the Government in the Jubilee Room and the Opposition in the Waratah Room. Students were taken into the gallery to observe a sitting of parliament and they were also visited by Members of the electorates they were representing. They then spent their day researching and preparing their arguments in favour and against the bill.

On Thursday evening students and teachers attended a dinner hosted by the President of the Law Society, Mr Hugh Macken in the Dining Room at the NSW Law Society.

Friday 4 April, 2008
As Parliament was sitting - debate of the Bill took place in the Wesley Auditorium. The Speaker was former Speaker of the House Mr Kevin Rizzoli.

The quality of the debate was excellent. Students were thoroughly prepared and their level of knowledge on the issues displayed great awareness and empathy for the topic and the responses were well thought out and focussed on reducing the number of young people critically injured on the road.

The government was successful in passing the amendments.

Check out the images below to see all the action from the Schools in Parliament. Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version.