News
12 June, 2026
Legislative Council president impressed with regional students
President of the NSW Legislative Council, The Honourable Ben Franklin presided over the NSW Parliament Regional Roadshow that came to Bowral’s Gibraltar Hotel on Thursday, and was impressed with the calibre of the students that attended both the Public Speaking Competition and the Youth Forum.
President of the NSW Legislative Council, The Honourable Ben Franklin presided over the NSW Parliament Regional Roadshow that came to Bowral’s Gibraltar Hotel on Thursday, and was impressed with the calibre of the students that attended both the Public Speaking Competition and the Youth Forum.
As part of the Youth Forum, he was also joined by Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan, Labor MLC Mark Buttigieg, Liberal MLC and Shadow Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Science and Technology, Jacqui Munro, as well as Usher of the Black Rod, Tina Higgins, NSW Advocate for Children and Young People, Katherine McKernan and Manager, NSW Office for Youth, Charlotte Frew.
Topics discussed were Climate Change and the Environment (led by Judy Hannan), the cost of living (led by Mark Buttigieg), employment and future pathways (led by Jacqui Munro), and housing affordability (led by Katherine McKernan.
And finally, Mr. Franklin addressed the forum and said that he would ask each individual student what they felt is needed in their respective communities.
“We’ve run this public speaking competition throughout NSW for school students over the past three years and today is the first time we have come to the Southern Highlands,” Mr. Franklin told The Southern Wire.
“I have to say it won’t be the last, as the standard was absolutely outstanding. To see the breadth and the variety and the capacity of these young people – it really blew me away.”
High school students came from as far away as Crookwell, Richmond and the Blue Mountains to attend as well as students from the Southern Highlands and the Wollondilly.
Mr. Franklin said that there was ‘such a hunger from the young people to be involved.’
“We had one last year where students drove for six and half hours from Wentworth to get to the Youth Forum because these opportunities are rare,” he said.
“Even more rare is to be listened to in such a genuine way, and that’s why it’s so wonderful to be here with the local member Judy Hannan today and to be able to hear ‘from the horse’s mouth’ as it were what young people think.”
Six other regional centres are hosting these roadshows up until August, and it has travelled to Tweed Heads, Ulladulla and Scone so far, with Cowra, Albury and Macksville to go.
The winner of the Public Speaking Competition was Wollondilly Anglican College’s William Norman, whom Mr. Franklin described as ‘outstanding.’
“From the moment that he got up, without notes, he moved the microphone to the side and grabbed the audience attention immediately,” he said.
“He has an inherent, innate charisma and real connection with the audience, but then when he started talking about the topic of ‘The Edges’, the fact that young people are always urged to focus on ‘what’s next, what’s the big achievement, without actually stopping to fully see what’s actually important is in the margins and its the little things along the way. He’s going to be a real force at the State Final in December.”
Mr. Franklin said that when they travel to Cowra next week there will be whole host of schools from the Central West including Dubbo, Orange and even Griffith and down into the Riverina.
“Then after that we move onto Albury at the beginning of July and then Macksville up on the Mid North Coast in August,” he concluded.
Read More: Bowral, Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, Wollondilly, Goulburn, Crookwell