webmaster_parli_reflect


 * __Parliament House Open Session Reflections__**


 * Andrew:**

I wouldn't have ever expected to see what I got to see today. In the lower house, we had fun watching people shouting across the room at each other. The speaker must have been exhausted when she finished because she was surely yelling a lot. I followed a bit of what was going on, but I was watching more on the process of the debate and how they get on in Parliament.

In the upper house, they were a lot more calm than in the lower house. I didn't hear the speaker say even one word.

Today, I learned that in the State Parliament, they yell and barge into each other rudely and we should never do that in class.


 * Varun:**

On Wednesday a group of us went to visit the parliament house. I had never seen this before so was very excited and eager to see how the grownups that run our country do this. Once I entered parliament house I could hear that a “discussion” was going on. When I entered the green room I was already excited hearing the shouting, the yelling and the “order”. It was not long before we also saw someone get a warning I could not believe that I had controlled myself from laughing. It was one of the most exciting times I have had in the CBD. But on the other hand the red room was the most boring time I ever had on one was shouting, yelling or saying “order”.

I learnt that you need a very loud voice to be in the parliament and you also need to be confident. Over all in was an amazing experience.


 * Evan:**

During Wednesday afternoon I had the excitement of visiting the gallery of parliament house during question time. I was expecting this to be boring and bland however when I stepped into the door of parliament house I heard music to my ears, shouting. Once we put our bags in a storage cupboard we were directed into the gallery. We walked up to the gallery and sat down and I was amazed to see the premier (attempting) to speak about something which was not really obvious as he was bouncing from one subject to the other. One minute he was talking about the police, next minute public transport then onto golf and the victims of black Saturday (though we were in parliament, so nonsense makes perfect sense).

I was really amazed that they got so loud and rude at their workplace, I knew parliament sometimes gets a bit heated, but nothing like this, so I found that surprising. We eventually moved over to the red room and found this to be a lot more casual and quite in comparison to the green room. The red room was full of people having their own conversations with each other, while others were answering their questions and talking. In comparison, in the green room there was to be complete silence while someone was talking (except for the talker, and the 'speaker') otherwise the speaker got very mad and threatened to send some members of parliament out, including the deputy leader of the opposition.

Overall this was a very enjoyable excursion because it allowed me to have a first hand view of what goes on parliament where they run the state of Victoria.


 * Shreyas:**

Today was our small group excursion to Parliament House, where we were going to see the politician during Question Time. It was a very interesting session and quite entertaining too. We visited both the Lower (Legislative Assemby) and the Upper (Legislative Council) Houses. I was very excited to see the Lower House because all of the politician were "fired up". I learnt that Members of Parliament could be quite rowdy. They reminded me of seagulls fighting over scraps of food!

Something that puzzled me was the job of Speaker. The lady was extremely calm, no matter what was being said. I know that I will never be able to do that job, as I can get frustrated quite easily.

The Upper house was not very interesting. I might have felt that way because of the excitement that I had experienced earlier in the Green Room.

Another interesting and funny aspect was the fact that Member could be dismissed from the session. Many politicians were warned because of outbursts and the Member for Kew was almost thrown out!

The excursion was very interesting and it had my attention for the duration of the trip. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone who likes politics or debates. I would love to go there again.


 * Tayler:**

Today on our trip to Paliament we watched them disscuss the issues that are going on at the moment. Before this trip i had not payed much attention to what they say on t.v. But being there helped me understand how it works and what it was really like. In the green room it was the loudest and they seemed to be really rude to each other. I really enjoyed listening to how they answered each question because in order to know the answer they would have to prepare alot. I was also really surprised how many warning each member was given. Overall i really found this interesting and fun to watch in real life.


 * Natalie:

Today we went to parliament house's open session. I had never seen parliament in action and was very interested to see what it would be like. When we were only in the foyer we could hear them yelling from the lower house. As we went in it got louder and more real. I had never seen, or imagined, the members to shouted and inturupted each other the way they did. After the lower house we went into the upper house. Here they were a little quiter, but still inturupted and didnt even pay attention to each other. This was such a fun trip; the way they acted towards each other in both houses was very interesting to me, but it was a great thing to go watch and see for myself. **


 * Charlie:**

Todays Visit to the Parliament House Open Session was easily the one of the best, if not the best thing I have done so far. We went to two sessions, the upper and the lower. Everyone enjoyed the lower the best and I had a ball listening to politicians and members going off like a house on fire at each others throats,(not literally, metaphorically). Also we all discovered what the speakers or the chairs or whatever it is favourite word is:ORDER!!!!!!!!!! How did we figure this out you ask, well she only said it about three thousand million trilion time every three minuets

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I would happily do it again any day of the week, except weekends.....and holidays.


 * Josh:**

Once we arrived at parliament you could instantly sense politicians. The noises they made were unbearable. We first visited the green room where it seemed like the opposition party had the upper hand in the argument. I learned that if you were to become a politician you would have to be a great lier,love to speak loudly and you must enjoy talking over people. After we saw the green room we went to the upper house (red room). Here they were much more tamed and wasn't as interesting. If I were to join the Liberal or Labor Party, I'd make sure I wouldn't debate in the upper house.

Overall it was a fantastic excursion.

When we walked into parliament House, I could immediately hear the yelling of politicians. We went into the green room first (lower house). Theyre yellng was so loud and really funny. they all interrupted each other and laufghed at what the other person was saying. i couldn't really understand what they were saying, but it was still really funny to see them argue. After the lower house we went to the upper house, which was much quieter and more boring. as well as not understanding their arguments, it wasnt as interesting as the lower house. overall it was a grat experience and i would love to go again, but only at question time.
 * Rosie:**


 * Jeremy:

OK guys here I go. when I first entered parliment house I knew I was in for something special. We could all here the laughs, jeers and the call for "ORDER" over and over again from the green room when we were waiting in the foyer. As I walked up the winding staircase to the top of the room, the voices gradually got louder and louder until we got in and saw what was going on. John Brumby was talking and all of the liberal party was laughing at him. I nearly bursted out as well at the funnyness of the meeting. My favoutite guy was the member for Kew because he was always in trouble and the speaker kept telling him off and threatening to throw him out. It reminded me of a teacher telling of a student. I woudn't like to be the speaker because she would've said the word order about a gazillion times! This was one of the best things I've done in the city.

Slavic:**

One of my favourite excursions was going to Parliament House, when they were accially debating. Once I walking inside I heard the arguing and the debating. We sat in the green room and overlokked all the members of parliament. The speaker had the worst job of all. How can she survive. She probably said the word ORDER about 20 million times. The jokes and opposition is what I mostly enjoyed. The red room was not exciting at all. There wasn'y the atmospere and the excitment which I felt in the green room.

Overall I enjoyed the excursion and would go again.


 * Amanda:**

One of the great things about being in the city as we are this term, is the fact that, being in the right place at the right time, we got the chance to see Parliament when the members were actually in session. Twelve of us took the opportunity to watch the circus that is the Lower House (the green room). We went to the Upper House as well, but it was not nearly as exciting.

I had no idea what to expect in the House of Commons; I do not watch these sessions on tv and I'm not terribly up on Australian politics. I have to say though that if you want to get someone interested, this is certainly the way to do it. The guard who ushered us in to the gallery warned us that the members were particularly 'fired up' today and he was right. If a debate is an argument with rules, there was no debate going on there today, because there seemed to be no rules. What we saw was a lot of yelling out and interrupting. The member for Kew was nearly asked to leave after an outburst.

I am confused as to how anyone could remain patient holding the job of Speaker, whose most used word was clearly: "Order!" and many times even that was ignored. It's amazing anything ever gets accomplished.

When we left, the guard assured us that most of the irreverent behaviour was for the benefit of the press; I'd like to explore that a bit further. If it were a classroom, the whole thing would fall apart. The forty minutes seemed to me to be a heated role play and I'd certainly go again!