VCE Politics Guest Speakers.

In early August, students from VCE Politics Units 1-4 had the incredible opportunity to hear from prominent politicians, Matt Keough and Josh Burns, in relation to Australia’s dynamic role in the Indo-Pacific region and our relationships with key players in the international field, exploring Australia’s attitudes towards China and the US.  

“It was a very insightful experience, and we particularly enjoyed seeing the things we learned in class, like the AUKUS military alliance, come up in discussion. It was a great application of our learning, and the discussion was a refreshing take on our textbook knowledge.” - Rutvi D (11J)

Mr. Keogh is the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel, and Mr. Burns is the federal member of parliament for Macnamara - Mac.Rob’s electorate. Both politicians had connections to Mac.Rob: Mr. Burns’ mum was a Mac.Robbian, and Mr. Keogh, we heard, is best buds with Mr. Corr!

“So valuable to see topics we discussed in class come up when speaking to politicians, and to be able to have meaningful conversations with them.” - Shipra S (10F)

Whilst we can’t relay the full discussion in depth (to avoid spilling state secrets…), we can definitely say it was a fascinating experience for students, especially those doing Unit 3/4, to get closer to the reality of what we are learning about.

This incursion also allowed us to critically examine Australia’s perspectives through our local member of parliament, and how Australia balances its own interests while understanding the perspectives and interests of its Indo-Pacific neighbours.

“Incredible to see the political perspectives studied in class be reflected in the words of Mr. Matt Keough and Mr. Josh Burns.” - Alisa N (11F)

We had discussions addressing realist perspectives and what was described as more of a “utopia land.” Ultimately, this incursion helped to deepen our awareness and interest in the politics world, how to deal with relationships between people; whether state-level, political, or not; and further explore what it means to be human.