Mandurah’s Junior Council have proved their passion for helping the community reach its full potential after revealing their 2018 project will focus on animal advocacy.
The youths expressed their plans to raise community awareness of the need to ensure animals are treated well at the City of Mandurah's July council meeting.
Lead by junior mayor Elizabeth Eppen-VanDerAa and her deputy mayor Binti Christensen, the group made a “strong impression” during their presentation.
Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams, himself a former youth councillor, thanked the youths for their presentation on behalf of his fellow councillors.
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So far, the Junior Council have foreshadowed the creation and dissemination of a video to promote their message.
They also utilised social media channels to further amplify the message.
“It’s great to see our young people stand up and and be involved in the affairs of our community,” Mr Williams said.
“This meeting saw two examples of how our young people are leading the way in creationg a better future for Mandurah.
“In this case, it was about caring for animals. Later in the night, it was young people from Mandurah Baptist College who were the inspiration for a motion on notice – which was unanimously passed – that called for the banning of single-use plastic by the City of Mandurah.
“I’m hoping that our young people will also be front-and-centre as we go out to the community to create a new vision for Mandurah.
“A vision that will drive our priorities for the next 20 years.
“And of course for young people there will be great motivation to becoming involved because in a very real sense they will be helping shape their own future.”
Junior Council has been running since 1984.
The current council consists of 38 year six students – two from every primary school in Mandurah.
Check out the full Junior Council public statement made by Binti and Elizabeth on the night below:
“Hello mayor Williams, councillors and guests.
“Binti and I will be presenting you with this year Junior Council project idea on behalf of the Junior Council.
“It was very tough voting on this year’s topic as there was some incredible speeches that were given.
“The Junior Council voted that we would focus on animal advocacy.
“Animal advocacy is important as not many people are aware of it.
“That is what our job is, to make people more aware of issues in Mandurah, from young people through to elders.
“As a Junior Council, our aim is to improve or support the well-being of our community’s pet population.
“We aim to do this by increasing the community’s awareness to ensure their pet’s safety and basic needs are met at all times.
“The Junior Council think that a great way to raise awareness around this topic would be to make a video and distribute it on the web, YouTube and social media for the younger population, and to target the older population a radio commercial would help them realise the importance of ensuring their pets are properly cared for.
“The Junior Council will look at ways of promoting the message and video such as Peter Rowe.
“The Junior Council will also be hearing from experts such as the local rangers and other animal advocacy professionals throughout the year.
“Animal advocacy affects many citizens in Mandurah as well as the local areas around the suburb.
“Animals being hurt, starved and beaten is a horrible thought but it happens in real life.
“In the past few weeks Mandurah has shot up to the top five suburbs that have the most animal help calls, coming in with Baldivis and Pinjarra.
“You would think this would only affect adults but young people care about animals too, especially the Junior Council.
“Hearing about horrible incidents on the news and online brings young kids down.
“Adults and parents need to take action on how this is affecting our youth.
“The Junior Council is prepared to take any chances to get the message out and we hope the Council will support our project in 2018.
“We believe that we need to take action quick as we do not want the numbers of animal help calls to increase.
“We need to do this as soon as possible or something that may be a small issue can become a very large issue.
“The Junior Council believes this animal advocacy is the most important issue because no animal should be treated the wrong way or unfairly.
“Adults, teenagers and children need to be educated on what to do if you see an animal being hurt and who to contact if you see a stray animal.
“We have chosen this topic because every student in the Junior Council cares deeply about animals and the way they are treated.
“We hope we have informed you on how important animal advocacy is and brought a new light to your eyes.
“Thank you and keep an eye out for our video.”
