Mandurah Baptist College gears up for 2018 constitutional convention in Canberra

Appointed head boy about four weeks ago, Rp has a knack for leadership. 

Rp and his family moved to Australia when he was in year seven, from South Africa. 

He said he was looking forward to meeting new people at the convention and the opportunities that would come with it. 

Rp has always held a keen interest for politics and eventually wants to work in parliament. 

Read more: 

“I’m pretty excited. I didn’t really expect to get in,” he said.

“I went to a convention about a term back and through that convention we were able to apply for this national convention. 

“We’re going to do a convention like we did in WA. We kind of debate a certain constitutional issue then we’re going to go around and see the stuff in Canberra like Parliament House and the High Court.”

Two Mandurah Baptist College students applied, but only Rp was successful. 

Among some hot issues discussed in parliament recently the dual citizenship saga was a stand out for him. 

The conference will follow the topic of Section 44: Is it still relevant in modern Australia?

While Rp isn’t an Australian citizen at the moment he aims to be over the next couple of years. 

“The dual citizenship [issue] that is on at the moment… is making us look very bad,” he said.

“I’m not a citizen of Australia yet but I’m going to be a dual citizen and I do intend to go into parliament one day,” he said. 

Despite his situation Rp doesn’t believe the constitution should be changed to allow dual citizens to sit in parliament.

He said if and when he does go into parliament he would renounce his dual citizenship title well in anvance.

Rp said the issue had been “blown it out of proportion”. 

“I’m going to be a dual citizen,” he said. 

“It’s not like I can’t love Australia and South Africa at the same time.”

Rp attributed his love of politics to some of this family members who work in the field.

“My uncle used to be apart of the government in South Africa and I have another uncle here in Australia that’s a constitutional lawyer,” he said. 

He said he was encouraged by his peers, parents and teachers to purse a political career. 

“The teachers have really encouraged me to just go for it. I had seen it as a job that only special people do but now I’ve realised that anyone can do it and I’m looking forward to taking a future in it,” he said. 

He said it was interesting learning about the government in Australia after coming from South Africa.

“They’re very similar but the way they’re carried out is so different,” he said. 

“The difference I see in the two governments made me want to do it. Because I could see the contrast between the two I could see that there’s a future for me here through the job.

“In South Africa, it’s chaos at the moment.”

Rp said there was some people in Australia that didn’t realise how great their system of government was.

He said it was a shame youth people were less engaged in politics. 

“The first thing I’m doing when I’m around the age of 18 is going to enroll to vote,” he said. 

The conference is ran through National Curriculum Services in collaboration with the Australian Curriculum Studies Association.