The Parliament of South Australia Community Education Office will visit Mount Gambier next month to provide informative and entertaining programs for students, teachers and the community.

The free programs will be presented by Community Education Officer Natalie Young and Community Education Support Officer Edgar Thompson at St Paul’s Hall.

Ms Young said the key theme within each program was ensuring people realised parliament was a forum to use their voice and have their say through their representatives.

“I think that having an understanding of how to access your representatives and use your voice is such a critical skill,” Ms Young said.

“So if we can help provide the ‘have your say’ content and active citizenship content in an easy access way, then we will go above and beyond to do that.”

The student program will cover how parliament works and teach students how to use their voice to have a say.

Students will participate in interactive exercises including a vote and a parliamentary-style debate.

They will have the opportunity to raise issues which are important to them, which will be passed on to members of parliament. The Teacher’s Professional Learning Program will ensure teachers from the Mount Gambier region have access to free training and professional development in regards to teaching civics and citizenship in their classrooms.

Finally, the community program will provide attendees with a detailed understanding of parliament. The session will cover the purpose and function of parliament, how electorates work, what happens during sitting week and how everyone can have their say.

Ms Young said they will present an entertaining and politically-neutral program for attendees.

“We’re really excited to be there, we’re really looking forward to it,” Ms Young said.

“We’re not politicians, we’re politically neutral and we’re here to help the community, so we are really looking forward to making people feel comfortable with engaging with their parliament and removing any fear or stigma or political nuances from the picture.

“We’re taking politics out of the picture and giving everyone bare facts on how to engage without a political lean to it. We are here for the community in a very unbiased way.”