Students of Spring Street 25 Years of the Victorian Parliamentary Internship Program
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S T UDEN TS OF S P R I NG S STUDENTS T REE OF SPRING T 25 YEAR STREET 25 YEARS S OF OF THE TH VICTORIAN E VI C PARLIAMENTARY T OR I INTERNSHIP AN PARL PROGRAM I AMEN Students of Spring Street is a story of success T AR and achievement. It offers a unique glimpse into Y Australia’s longest running parliamentary internship IN T program. Now in its 26th year, the Victorian ERN Parliamentary Internship Program has seen over SHIP one thousand interns pass through its doors with flying colours. The program has spawned PROGRAM a remarkable group of talent, ranging from the 48th Premier of Victoria to MPs, CEOs, football journalists, philanthropists, academics, lawyers, radio announcers and activists. TOM HVALA & JON BREUKEL Victorian Parliamentary Library & Information Service STUDENTS OF SPRING STREET 25 YEARS OF THE VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM TOM HVALA & JON BREUKEL Victorian Parliamentary Library & Information Service ISBN 978-0-646-94248-3 © 2015 Parliamentary Library & Information Service, Parliament of Victoria Published by the Parliamentary Library & Information Service, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliament of Victoria and released under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence. By using this Creative Commons licence, you are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work under the following conditions: Attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non-Commercial – You may not use this work for commercial purposes without our permission. No Derivative Works – You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work without our permission. The Creative Commons licence only applies to publications produced by the Library, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliament of Victoria. All other material produced by the Parliament of Victoria is copyright. If you are unsure please contact us. Designed by Traffic Design Studios Printed by Print Graphics CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 VICE-CHANCELLORS’ leTTERS 4 FOREWORD 7 INTRODUCTION 8 THE PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA 14 History of the program 14 Members of Parliament 20 Parliamentary Library 22 Presiding Officers 26 UNIVERSITIES 36 Reflections and experiences 36 Academic supervisors 37 INTERNS 40 The internship experience 40 From intern to Premier 60 Former interns, now Members of Parliament 62 Millennium Youth Parliament 66 Bound for the USA 69 REPORTS 74 Tangible outcomes 74 Report categories 76 APPENDICES 82 Bibliography 82 Appendix 1: Interviews conducted 83 Appendix 2: Academic supervisors and parliamentary coordinators 84 Appendix 3: Intern statistics 85 Appendix 4: Interns employed by the Victorian Parliament 86 Appendix 5: Interns who became Members of Parliament 87 Appendix 6: List of interns 88 Appendix 7: Invitation 97 25 YEARS OF THE VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank the following people for parliamentary research assistant Kim Martinow, providing their insights, experiences and support for their assistance and contributions to the book. to the Parliamentary Internship Program: former Thanks also to the Parliamentary Library staff in academic coordinators, Professor Brian Costar the Research & Inquiries team for their ongoing from Swinburne University, Professor John Power and dedicated assistance: Bella Lesman, Rachel and Dr John Chesterman from the University Macreadie, Dr Catriona Ross, Paige Darby, Alice of Melbourne; current academic coordinators, Jonas, Debra Reeves and Marianne Aroozoo; and Associate Professor Paul Strangio from Monash John Bentley, President of the Friends of Melton University, Dr Lea Campbell from the University of Botanic Garden. Melbourne and Associate Professor Julie Stephens We must acknowledge those who have produced from Victoria University; former parliamentary the excellent research papers written about the librarians, Bruce Davidson and Marion King; former intern program over the years, and from which parliamentary coordinator, Dr Greg Gardiner; the we drew on substantially, in some chapters of the Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Daniel Andrews; book: Professor John Power, Dr Craig McInnis, former premiers, the Hon. John Cain and the Hon. Dr Greg Gardiner, Dr John Chesterman, Felicity John Brumby; current President, the Hon. Bruce Lane, Kathryn James, Prue Monument, Katrina Atkinson; former Speaker, the Hon. Dr Ken Coghill; Gorjanicyn and Laura Thompson. We have listed the Member for Melton, Don Nardella and the their research reports in the bibliography. Member for Sandringham, Murray Thompson. We thank the three participating universities (the We would also like to thank the following former University of Melbourne, Monash University and interns for their honest and frank assessments of the Victoria University) for their generous support in the program: the Member for Bentleigh, Nick Staikos; the form of a grant to employ two former interns, Grace Member for Southern Metropolitan, Philip Dalidakis; McCoy (2013 cohort) and Tom Hvala (2014 cohort) former Member for Frankston, Dr Alistair Harkness; as part-time research assistants in the Parliamentary Clerk of the Legislative Council, Andrew Young; ABC Library & Information Service. Both have worked in radio presenter, Rafael Epstein; Dr Jasmine-Kim the production of this book as well as the creation Westendorf; Adam Delacorn; Rachel Macreadie; of the Parliamentary Internship Alumni. Trent Brickle; Kate Bartlett; Jesse Twomey; Melissa Gaddie; Aaron Hart; Joshua Knoop; Elizabeth Molan; Finally, and most importantly, the authors and Catherine Nadel; Roshena Campbell; Milli Allan and all those involved in the program convey their James Brooks. thanks to all the Victorian Members of Parliament who have supported the program through their Our appreciation is also extended to the continued involvement and without whom this following: former intern Grace McCoy and program would not be possible. AUTHORS Tom Hvala is a Research Assistant in the Victorian Jon Breukel is the Coordinator of Research & Parliamentary Library & Information Service. He Inquiries in the Victorian Parliamentary Library & is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts/Law Information Service and the current parliamentary at Monash University and he was a parliamentary coordinator of the internship program. intern in 2014. 2 STUDENTS OF SPRING STREET PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP ALUMNI The Parliament of Victoria wishes to create a Parliamentary Internship Alumni for former interns. If you are a former intern and interested in joining this alumni network, please contact the Parliamentary Library & Information Service or register your internship details online by following the links on this page: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/parliamentary-internship-program VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: A COLLABORATIVE paRTNERSHIP 25 YEARS OF THE VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 3 4 STUDENTS OF SPRING STREET 25 YEARS OF THE VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 5 Footscray Park Campus Professor Peter Dawkins Ballarat Road, Footscray Vice-Chancellor and President PO Box 14428 Melbourne Vic 8001 Australia Phone +61 3 9919 4011 [email protected] 25 May 2015 www.vu.edu.au Hon. Telmo Languiller MP Hon. Bruce Atkinson MLC Speaker of the Legislative Assembly President of the Legislative Council Parliament of Victoria Parliament of Victoria Dear Presiding Officers, I am writing to congratulate you on the 25th Anniversary of the Parliamentary Internship Program. Victoria University joined the program in 2004 and has been an enthusiastic contributor to what is the oldest, continuously running Parliamentary Internship Program in Australia. The program is an exemplar of work-based learning at our university. It is also an outstanding example of how successful a collaborative partnership can be forged, in this case between Victoria University, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Parliament of Victoria. Since our involvement in the internship program there have been 47 VU graduates. These students have highly valued what they have learned from their supervising Member of Parliament as well as the opportunity to conduct public policy research in a parliamentary context. These students have gained extraordinary insight into the workings of an electorate office, the history and processes of Parliament and the demanding roles and responsibilities of a parliamentarian. Like all of the interns, VU students have also developed their research, writing and organisational skills in order to produce a 6000 word research report over a single semester. The fact that these reports are bound in hardcopy and held in the Parliamentary Library is a source of significant pride for our students and for the University as a whole. Some of these reports have been mentioned in Parliament and have contributed to real public policy outcomes, such as improved mental health funding for local residents in an electorate or the establishment of a botanical garden in Melton. These reports are of benefit to the supervising MPs, many who have been based in the West of Melbourne, and they also positively impact on students’ lives and their futures. VU graduates of the Parliamentary Internship Program have gone on to occupy key roles in State and Federal government departments, in the private sector and in legal fields. These diverse graduate outcomes are testimony to the success of the internship