On Wednesday, the Year 10, 11 and 12 Politics & Law classes were very fortunate to receive a visit from our soon to be Governor of Western Australia, Mr Kim Beazley.

He is a politician who is undoubtedly a Labor legend and a man who has had an incredibly impressive and inspiring career in the legislative and executive arms of government. He not only served in the Hawke and Keating cabinets with many different portfolios, including the Minister for Defence, but also served as Opposition Leader for much of the Howard government’s time in office. Not only this, but he has also served Australia as an ambassador to the United States and was a key part of the coordination of the armed forces during his time.

I know I speak for many of the girls taking Politics & Law when I say we were incredibly interested in Mr Beazley’s point of view on current political issues, both in Australia and abroad and also very intrigued to pick his brain about the structure and functioning of both the opposition and cabinet. As Year 12 Politics & Law students, a key component of our course is the opposition and how they hold government to account, and also the functioning of Cabinet, which Mr Beazley certainly gave us great insight into.

In his words, paraphrased from Bob Hawke himself, “A good government is comprised of competent ministers, and a great Prime Minister”. To hear from someone who has actually lived the life of a parliamentarian really brought the textbook to life for us and I know we’ll be applying his insider information in our exams and future careers.

Jemima Reid, Year 12