[intro music]

JAMES SMITH: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to this online national final of the Plain English Speaking Award for 2024. I would also like to acknowledge the Cammeraygal people who are the traditional owners of the land on which I'm speaking to you.

I pay respect to Elders both past and present of the Eora nation and extend that respect to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people present. So, my name is James Smith, and I will be both your chairperson and interviewer for this the 46th national final of the Plain English Speaking Award. This competition began in Victoria in 1977 and the following year it spread nationwide.

It's generously supported by the Australia Britain Society and the English Speaking Union. Before we get started today, I would like to introduce you to the adjudicators for today's final. They are Lucy Beale, Tierney Khan and Wai Sin Wan. Lucy represents NSW, Tierney represents Victoria and Wai Sin represents Western Australia. We'd like to thank the panel very much for taking the time to judge the competition today.

So, let's come to the prepared section of the competition where each speaker speaks on 8 minutes on a subject of their choice. The first speaker that we have for today is Eli Gearing, who is in Year 12 at Centenary State High School in Queensland. The subject of Eli's speech is 'Time with grandpa'. Please welcome Eli.

ELI GEARING: I love my grandpa. So many of my favourite childhood memories involve him, and especially his stories. They're sometimes educational, usually exaggerated, but always entertaining.

Grandpa's parents were missionaries in Samoa. He grew up there as a child until he was old enough to start Grade 2, at which point he was sent to boarding school in Australia. One of the most serious stories he tells is about the time he had to say goodbye to his parents.

They'd come out to visit him but were heading back to Samoa, knowing it could potentially be several years before they would get to see him again. He speaks of how he and his mother had to be torn apart through screaming and crying so they could finally leave. I think the word he uses to describe it is 'traumatic'.

'Time is what we want most, but what we use worst', the words of English writer William Penn. Much like Grandpa in this story, I seem to live my life with a constant desire for more time-- a bit more time with a loved one, more time before an exam, or more time before I have to wake up in the morning. There's always this desire for more.

And in the 21st century world, that experience seems be all too common. Our world runs at a million miles an hour. Our phones offer us an endless supply of meaningless entertainment. We feel pulled in so many different directions, never able to do everything. So what do we do?

Well, based on a study done roughly a decade ago, the average Australian day looks something like this-- 8.5 hours of sleep, 3.5 hours of paid work, 2 hours, 15 doing housework, 2 hours, 15 watching TV or listening to the radio, 1.5 hours eating or drinking, half an hour, shopping, an hour looking after ourselves, an hour volunteering, 45 minutes looking after family, half an hour of education, 40 minutes of seeing friends, 19 minutes of sport, 6 minutes of attending events, and an hour 15 of other fun activities.

Now, that's a lot of numbers in very quick succession. So in case you missed some of it, here's the important part. In total, we spend less than 8% of our time actively trying to help people, and less than 5% of our time going out of our way to socialise. In total, that's less than 12% of our lives that we will look back on as meaningful, as core memories, as time well spent. Twelve percent.

So I come back to Grandpa. I remember one of the times he told me the story I told you earlier, was on a family holiday, about 6 and half years ago. That afternoon, like numerous others that trip, my sisters and cousins had gone off to the beach or the pool or something. And despite wanting to go with them, I decided I'd rather stay and listen to Grandpa's stories.

So you see, I think there's this critical part, both in me listening to the story and Grandpa's parents in the story, that we so often miss. And that's the consciousness of the decision. I would have loved to go to the beach and listen to Grandpa. And I can only imagine that Grandpa's parents would have loved to pursue their work and be present every step of the way as he grew up.

Now make no mistake. Their work mattered to them and to the people that they served. It's not that they didn't love him. It's not that they chose some meaningless thing over him or even that they missed all of his childhood. Sorry. But rather, that every choice we make comes with an opportunity cost.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not here today to tell you that one choice is better than another. I'm not here today to tell you that you've been making the wrong choices. And I'm definitely not here today to tell you to overthink every single choice. Because we can't.

These choices never stop coming till the day we die. We make them countless times, every single day, some big, like Grandpa's parents, and some small, like me listening to his story.

What I am here to do, though, is to warn you, to ask you to reflect and to remind you that sometimes choices get taken away. Sometimes a little choice, like listening to a grandparent's story, can feel so much more significant with the benefit of hindsight.

I'd love to tell you that Grandpa was here watching me this morning, that he'll be clapping when I sit down in a moment. And maybe he will be. But not from where you're sitting.

Grandpa passed away less than 2 months after that family holiday. He lost his battle with cancer. In fact, that holiday and those stories are some of the last, real, positive memories I have with him.

Ladies and gentlemen, one day we're all going to reach the ends of our lives. One day, we're all going to look back on the things we've done and the time we've had. And on that day, what do you want to see? Do you want to see that you gave to the people around you, that you volunteered, you spent time with them, you looked after them?

Or would you rather see that you spent your time mindlessly scrolling or watching TV. Now, don't get me wrong. Those things aren't inherently wrong, but all things in moderation. The problem is, it's so easy to waste our time, to let it waste away subconsciously. And yet, when faced with death, we would want nothing more than more time. But it would be too late.

It's so hard for us to fully grasp the preciousness of our time. And yet, we are faced with this choice irrespective. Now, it's not my place to tell you how to spend yours. But let me ask you this. Would you rather leave something behind or be left behind?

Ladies and gentlemen, the only choice we ever truly have is what we choose to do now. We can't change yesterday, and we're not promised tomorrow. So make today count.

JAMES SMITH: First question is a nice softball for you, Eli. Congratulations on making vice captain. It says in your speaker profile. Well done. Now that you are vice captain, what's going to be your biggest change that you're going to make to your school?

ELI GEARING: Look, I'm at the end of my term, really. I've had all of this year. Look, at the end of the day, I think to me, the biggest part of vice captain is more so about leading the other group of leaders. So we work as a captaincy team. There's 4 of us, 2 captains and 2 vice captains.

And I think our primary job is just to offer direction and to listen to other people. So rather than trying to come in with our own massive ideas, I think it's more so about trying to listen to all the other leaders we've got in our school and help them work together as a bigger team.

One project that I think I've taken on a little bit more by myself has been a yearbook. Our Year 12 cohorts of the last couple of years have really wanted one, and it's always fallen through. So I am currently in the process of trying to see if we can get that much off the ground.

JAMES SMITH: That's great. They're tough projects. On to your speech for a second, Eli. It's a great speech, and I'm sure everyone in the audience was moved by it. But my question here is, it talks about the importance of being mindful about how you're using your time, which is a really important thing. But if you were being honest with us, as the panel and the audience, what would be your biggest time sink that you'd want to admit to in front of everybody else?

ELI GEARING: I think I mentioned scrolling on a phone numerous times. It's something my dad is very good at reminding me I do a bit. But yeah, I think, look, the speech is written as much to myself as it is to anyone else, as kind of a reminder that it's-- I feel all too often I get to the end of a day, and I'm like, well, OK, so I did these things, but what about all this time that I seem to just lose into nowhere.

And I can't tell you I got anything out of that. It's just easier than actively doing something. So yeah, I think for me, the biggest one would have to be social media or scrolling, doom scrolling, I guess, but--

JAMES SMITH: Great cautionary tale, Eli. I love that. And finally, your 'looking forward to the future' question, Eli. You mentioned that you're interested in the juvenile justice system, particularly in Queensland. And obviously, this is a tricky question. But if you could wave a magic wand at the moment and you could put a couple of new policies in place to change that system for the better, what would those policies be?

ELI GEARING: Oh, a 30-second question on that. Look, I think for me, the biggest thing is to shift the focus from punishment to rehabilitation. It's interesting to me, the agenda that we're seeing politically at the moment. Because I've spoken to a professor in the juvenile justice system. And essentially, all the data that we've got globally is that the punishment, the idea of punishment doesn't seem to work longer term.

And when you actually look at the kids in there, and you can speak to guards-- I've written articles from, sorry, read articles written by guards, the kids themselves, people working in there. And there is a very strong message that we are sending kids in there, into detention really, on really small, petty kinds of crimes that are completely non-violent. And they exit the system violent.

And I feel like what I would really choose to do is try and work with the kids, rather than against them, and work out what's getting them there in the first place and how to get them out of that area. Yeah.

JAMES SMITH: Fantastic, Eli, well answered. Tricky question, and thank you so much for your time. Really, congratulations on a great speech and a great interview. Thank you.

ELI GEARING: Thank you.

JAMES SMITH: I'd now like to ask our second contestant to come and join us. This is Lucy Eales from Loreto College Ballarat, representing Victoria. The subject of Lucy's speech is 'Yarning'. Please welcome Lucy.

LUCY EALES: If there is anything you need to know about me, it's that I like talking. If you were to give me a microphone, a topic, and 10 minutes, I could probably talk until your ears are ringing and you are begging for someone to take me off the stage so you can hear yourself think. And then I'd probably talk some more.

However, I don't believe that overtalking is something our society should continue to put down. Speaking out is the number-one way in which regular people, like you and I, aim to create change, especially for those whose voices have been stolen. Alternatively, I believe that overtalking is the key to respectful yarning and reconciliation with the Indigenous people of our nation.

'Yarning' is not a word that pops up in our vocabulary very often. It sure wasn't in mine when I first began to read the poetry of Yamaji woman Charmaine Papertalk Green and mining descendant John Kinsella for my Year 12 English course.

As described by Green, yarning is a beautiful conversation with deep understandings through honest conversation. Green best elaborates on this when she likens yarning to a cascading waterfall, smashing to the bottom-- both beautiful and brutal, multifaceted.

However, I do not believe that Australia's current dialogue reflects this. And the recent Voice to Parliament referendum is a prime example. Throughout the chaotic campaigning, I witnessed what I can only describe as pure fear, being taken advantage of by powerful people with not a true yarn in sight.

Political parties gaslit the public into thinking they didn't know what was happening. The change was just too far beyond us, and that it was easier to reject what was new. Some said that they would support treaty instead because a Voice to Parliament would only leave our communities more divided. But when all was said and done, I saw this as another lie for some political ground.

But just recently, I had the opportunity to yarn over hot drinks with Deb, a proud Narungga woman and social worker, to gain an alternate perspective on this. In that space, I realised that I didn't just want to write this speech as an outlet for my frustration about the Voice. I wanted to write it because there are real people behind the politics.

Deb spoke to me about how her community is struggling to have people demonstrate basic respect for a culture that has predated white settlement by thousands of years, how she finds being an Indigenous woman in a world that actively rejects her inputs so hard, and the hopelessness that has echoed through to young Indigenous children she works with, as a result of the referendum's defeat.

It seems clear that we have dismissed that very notion of yarning the moment the voice was silenced. It seems clear that yarning should become central to the function of our federal government if we want it to benefit all of us.

The consequences of the absence of true yarning are in plain sight. And Indigenous youth bear the brunt of this in our legal system. For example, only 3% of 10 to 17-year-olds in the Northern Territory are Indigenous. However, 93% of those Indigenous teens are moving through their legal system, according to the Institute of Health and Welfare.

This is due to the generational impacts of colonisation and systemic racism in key social institutions, such as our police force, domestic violence response systems, and foster care systems.

Racial bias in our medical education and practice also affect the quality of care we are able to offer Indigenous people. Not only are our medical diagrams almost exclusively of Caucasian models, who do not demonstrate the effects of some conditions on darker skin, we also generally fail to understand the deep impacts of colonisation and continued alienation on their mental and emotional well-being.

This has led to suicide becoming the fifth leading cause of death in Indigenous people, according to the Institute of Health and Welfare. The cherry on top of all of this is that when people, especially Indigenous people, stand up and speak out about the issues that affect them, they are met with indifference, annoyance, and dismissive hand waves.

No wonder that we as a society perceive speaking out as some daring or controversial stunt. We all know that those who take stands can get burned. Think of Adam Goodes, a generational football talent and legend of the game, was booed and told he was, quote, 'too heavy handed' in his response to racist abuse, according to commentator Sam Newman, leading him to quit the sport.

What was Adam Goodes' response, you may ask. A civil conversation with the 13-year-old girl who initially abused him and continued activism outside of the AFL.

When Eddie Mabo took the idea of terra nullius, or nobody's land, to the high court to get Indigenous ownership of the land recognised, was he met with nationwide celebrations and praise? No.

When he was alive, he was denied access to education, cinemas, buses, and even bathrooms as an Indigenous man, forced into segregation and shame. When he died, his grave was vandalised with Nazi symbols and graffitied with racist slurs.

What does all of this say about our willingness to engage with the activism of Indigenous Australians? It screams privilege. It screams ignorance. It screams a preference for silence.

And it will take more than a few of us to have parliament hear us. Yarning, conversation, and true listening are vital if we wish to build a better relationship with Indigenous people and their culture in this country.

And that's hard to do when often that conversation involves owning up to the legacy our ancestors have left. It's hard when that conversation involves acknowledging our racial biases. It's hard when many people feel that yarning is taking personal responsibility for the actions of colonists all those years ago.

We should be able to rely on our national institutions to help get rid of those attitudes. But in the meantime, there are things that we can do, too. Yarning can be an informal conversation we have with our friends and our communities. It can be the simple act of giving somebody else a new understanding with a 2-minute conversation, a new perspective over Deb's tea and my hot chocolate.

The very future and fabric of our country rests on the shoulders of our ability to share, connect, and heal each other. It rests on us being far too talkative for our own good. As Charmaine Papertalk Green wrote, 'from that moment, that space, that time, yarning puts us on common ground.'

JAMES SMITH: OK. So Lucy, congratulations on being selected in your state football team. It also says here that you are a keen debater. So my question is, which one do you think is more competitive, AFL or debating?

LUCY EALES: That's so hard. Look, the football scene is actually insane. And the development of women's football over the last couple of years has been astonishing to me. I've been playing football for about 6 or 7 years at this point now. And when I first started, there was nothing. And now I'm part of this state program, and I'm surrounded by these prospective draft picks. It's amazing just the talent that's moving through there.

But I got to say, debating is pretty cutthroat. And I know I get more nervous before a debate than I do before a football game. So I think I'm going to have to go with debating on this one.

JAMES SMITH: There you go. Fantastic. Good choice. Good choice. OK, so let's move into your speech. This is a tough question, but I think it's a really important speech. And it's quite a nuanced speech as well, what it talks about, the sad reality of the treatment of First Nations people.

And you mention in the speech, some of those who advocated for treaty before the voice, i.e. actors like Lidia Thorpe, for example. So do you feel like Lidia Thorpe was an asset or an impediment to closing the gap, in your opinion?

LUCY EALES: To be honest with you, I find her stance complicated. Because I know that as an Indigenous woman, she has her own experience, and she has her own perspective on how Australia should tackle these systemic issues relating to Indigenous Australians.

And so to be honest with you, I feel like she's been more of an impediment. But that comes from my own research and my own opinion that has developed, that tells me that any change that makes society more equitable for Indigenous Australians is good change and that we should be taking every opportunity to close the gap, to give Indigenous Australians more of a voice in matters that affect them, both on the state and federal level, in terms of lawmaking.

So yeah, I do accept that she has her own perspectives on this, and I respect that perspective. But personally, I feel that taking up the voice would have been a better way, or a more effective way, to close the gap. And her campaigning against it was, in my view, not the right decision, but yeah.

JAMES SMITH: Fantastically reasonable answer. And the nice soft future question is this. You mentioned that you are looking forward to travelling after you finish your final exams. Where are you thinking about heading, and why are you thinking about going there?

LUCY EALES: So I am going to the US and Canada with my family at the end of the year, which I'm super excited for. I have a super keen interest in American politics. And I'm going after the election, so I don't know. The atmosphere there might be touch and go.

But yeah, I'm so excited to go overseas. I've been to Europe and New Zealand before, and I loved it both times I was there as well. So travelling has become a really, I guess, integral part of what I do with my family. Yeah, so I'm super excited to go and just experience the culture, experience the political scene, yeah, all of that sort of stuff. It's going to be amazing.

JAMES SMITH: That's fantastic. Thank you so much, Lucy, and great work on both your speech, and as well as the interview.

LUCY EALES: Thank you so much.

JAMES SMITH: OK, so now we move on to our third speaker for the final today, which is Violet FitzSimons, who attends Oxley College in NSW. They're in Year 11. And the subject of Violet's speech is that 'The aliens will start World War III'. Please welcome Violet.

VIOLET FITZSIMONS: Kourtney Kardashian, on principle, has never said anything relatable in her life. As a reality TV starlet, wellness gummy entrepreneur, and Hollywood It girl, there is little need to. So imagine my shock, when, mid-reality TV marathon, Kardashian divulged, 'I never read the news. It gives me bad vibes', a statement, which at its very essence, encompasses the current mood of Australian society.

You can't turn the page of your newspaper or swipe on Instagram without visibly recoiling, a sickening feeling in your stomach as you read about the hostages in Gaza or the fallen soldiers of Ukraine.

Our news cycle has become suffocating in its severity. And over the past year, I've found myself turning away and instead redirecting my mental energy towards 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians'. The saga of picking Gucci over Chanel is relatively easy to follow. But the wars raging on the other side of the globe are impossible to understand. How could humans do such things? How could people storm kibbutzes, hold hostages, commit genocide?

It's unfathomable and entirely unreadable. Because the core of any good story is empathy, that bond that we create between ourselves and another living being that we see, essentially, as sharing our same humanity. Cinderella is just another girl. Bluey is just another kid. Oppenheimer is just another man. We can empathise with all of these characters because we see ourselves in them.

And it's in this fundamental truth that humans emotionally connect with people who they deem to be like them, that the cause of Kardashian's concern was born. Because all these tragedies that circulate in our news cycle were caused by one thing, aliens.

Not ET or Spock, but the aliens that Orwell wrote about in his essays on antisemitism. As Orwell saw it, an alien wasn't necessarily green or adorned with antennae. It is simply a being that is not like us, someone who is categorised as intrinsically other.

Once you view someone as alien, Orwell theorised, you could commit any number of evils against them. Because once someone isn't like you, it isn't that big of a leap to think they aren't as human as you.

This mindset of alienation squashes curiosity and encourages judgement. Judgement creates ignorance, which allows for the mongering of hatred, the building of stereotypes, the degradation of a people until their identities are simplified to the word 'them', contrasted by us.

But the thing with alienating others is that in doing so, we negate any ability we have to actively learn about them. Alienating people is like pushing them into a really dark corner. But humans are afraid of the dark. We don't like what we don't know.

And worse than that, we demonise it. And so once a group is alienated, conflict arises. Where there is conflict, there is power imbalance. And that's when the news becomes unreadable. That's when children are held hostage based purely upon their nationality.

That's when countries are invaded with the sole ethos that they are not the nation from which you come. That's when we see thousands of men, women, and children, humans at their very essence, not alien at all, 'them'.

Aliens start wars. You can see it in Nazi Germany, in the Rwandan genocide, in the apartheid. Alienation is an archaic easy-bake recipe for heinous evil. As Martin Luther King wrote, 'Alienation is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.'

When the bonds of empathy that bind us to each living being are broken, that is when our society begins to crumble and when our very perception of what is right and wrong is ruptured.

And so, in her effervescent wisdom, Kourtney Kardashian was on to something. The news is, in short, horrible vibes because, yes, the news shows us global tragedy caused by alienation. And to be frank, that's an awful vibe. But the worst vibe is that this breakdown of empathy and lack of curiosity is reflected in me and you, us news readers.

Because when we inevitably click away from a heavy article with an excuse that falls under the 'bad vibes' category, we stop hearing stories about people who aren't like us. We stop hearing about the Ukrainian grandmother, Maria Nikolaevna, who emerged from her bomb shelter with her 3 granddaughters to find their parents dead on the street outside their family home.

We stop hearing about the child patients of a bombed Palestinian hospital holding a press conference in the waiting room, quite simply pleading to live as other children live. We stop hearing stories. And stories have the power to transform aliens into living, breathing humans.

Look, I struggled to read these articles, and even talking about them is hard. But if we allow ourselves to turn away, we prevent these stories from being told. We dismantle the opportunity we have in this digital world to build bonds of empathy between people separated by oceans and races and wars through stories that will break your heart, that will make you care.

So if you don't care to read the news, you'll start to see aliens everywhere. It takes so little to view someone as other to you, to think that their circumstance could never be your own. And whilst that seems harmless, if we allow our society to foster apathy towards a human story because it's sad or scary or depressing, we're making the very issue we deem to be bad vibes worse.

Our emotional disconnect allows for the manufacturing of aliens. And aliens have caused every war that has ever occurred on this planet. So please, read the news. Join the war against alienation, but have a plan.

Don't go running out into the battlefield in some righteous quest for glory. It won't end well. Set boundaries. Making yourself feel horrible because someone else feels horrible solves nothing.

As someone who really struggles with anxiety, I know how difficult it is when you weaponise the news against yourself. So please, take care of yourself and prioritise engaging with people's stories genuinely over making yourself feel horrible.

Make an effort to understand cultures at their root, not just at their lowest moment. Read memoirs. Read epics. Read poetry. Engage with any content you can get your hands on from cultures you wouldn't otherwise connect with.

The best way to understand a nation's reality is to understand their fantasies. Read up on Indian, Chinese, Arabian folktales. Learn about the stories upon which nations were built, the morals by which their people live and work, not just the burning buildings they stand in front of on the worst days of their lives.

Understanding people beyond the labels you assign to them is so important. Whether it's victim or villain, it's counterproductive. You can use these skills in your daily life as well, changing how you view your own story, the labels you assign to the people you dodge eye contact with or cross the street to avoid.

Empathy isn't just something to condemn politicians for not having. It's something to actively cultivate within your daily life. You can't expect yourself to engage in a healthy and meaningful way with the news without training. So make that eye contact. Read those stories.

In a digital age, knowledge is at our fingertips. And the ability to learn isn't just a right, it's a responsibility, but a super cool one. The same stories that made me feel helpless and suffocated, to the extent I can now recite entire episodes of 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians', those same stories can empower you. You have the ability to fight alienation. What can be a better vibe than that?

JAMES SMITH: Right. Let's jump straight into your interview. So in your profile, it says you took part in the 2022 Ethics Olympiad and won a gold medal. Congratulations. So my first question is, what was the trickiest ethical question or dilemma that you had to face in the Olympiad?

VIOLET FITZSIMONS: Oh, yeah. So the Olympiad is really interesting because we were given these ethical scenarios. And the one that really baffled us is, we were given this case where this young atheist woman was in love with a Jewish man, an Orthodox Jewish man.

And she wanted to marry this man. They wanted to be together. And as a result, she decided to enter into the Jewish faith. But she didn't believe in any of the Jewish traditions. And she was not actually an Orthodox Jew. She was just following the movements.

So we had to debate ethically, whether this was ever morally permissible, and what it meant to be sacrilegious, what it meant to disrespect someone's culture, and if it was ever OK to masquerade as something that you're not, something that's so sacred, so holy, that's been so persecuted, for the sake of love.

And with Ethics Olympiad, the great thing is that you don't need a definite answer. It's all about debating the ethics of the scenario. So we're talking all about deontologicalism. What's the duty of this couple to their religion, to their love? And should they prioritise being ethically permissible religiously or being happy? Is it family or is it that romantic connection? So that was really hard to debate.

JAMES SMITH: Wow. That does sound a lot of fun. So your speech, let's move on to that. It takes aim at the need to consume diverse viewpoints in the media and different stories. So question here, who do you think should take prime responsibility for the teaching of these things, be it parents or schools, and why?

VIOLET FITZSIMONS: That's a really good question. Look, I think when it comes to the sovereignty of a child's education, it's really difficult to pinpoint who's in charge here. The parent knows the child better. And also, there are certain circumstances where better content would be better equipped for certain children. I think it's definitely a group effort.

And I think this needs to happen on a legislative level. It can't be something that we just let people maybe opt into. I think there needs to be a definite program, perhaps it's accessible at schools, that parents can tap into. But it takes a village, right? It's not enough to just have one person saying, hey, you should probably check this out. We need it to be a change in our culture, regarding news consumption.

I think there's a real thing about being the most morally righteous and the most informed and having the high of having the newest statistics on the death count, which, number 1, is inappropriate, and number 2, is just deeply unhealthy. Our news cycle is suffocating, and we need to engage with it.

And we need to teach the skills of not just engaging with the scary headlines, but understanding people holistically. And I think if we're going to do that appropriately and on a long period, it needs to be a combination of the parents, the schools, the government. It really does take a village.

JAMES SMITH: Cool. OK. And finally, it says that you love Taylor Swift. Did you make it to the Eras concert? And more importantly, how do you feel about her endorsing Kamala Harris in the US election?

VIOLET FITZSIMONS: I did make it to the concert. It was a journey. I won't get into it. Very emotional, loved it. Anyway, in terms of her and her endorsement of Kamala Harris, I think it struck a chord with all of us, JD Vance's comments about childless cat ladies in America.

And I think her endorsement is really, really important, just in terms of-- I don't think that celebrities should ever be forced to discuss their politics. I think that's a misdemeanour in our culture. Celebrities are celebrities. They're not politicians, and it should stay that way.

But in this case in particular, we have a scenario where Ms Swift was forced into a situation. Donald Trump produced fake AI images of her supporting his campaign and Swifties supporting the campaign. So again, we're just combating that misinformation.

And it was very important she came forward and made sure that that rumour didn't get out of hand. She has a lot of power, and for Trump to weaponise that against her is absolutely horrific. So I'm very proud of for coming forward. I think it's really important to combat misinformation on that level.

JAMES SMITH: Awesome. Well done, Violet. Thanks so much for your time. OK. Moving on to our fourth contestant, who is Debika Dasgupta from Narrabundah College in the ACT. The subject of Debika's speech is 'Daydreaming: the overlooked potential'. Please welcome Debika.

DEBIKA DASGUPTA: So the other day, I was in my maths class, zoning out as usual, slipping in and out of awareness between my dream world and reality, when suddenly my friend tapped me on the shoulder.

Now, naturally, I spun around expecting they were going to tell me some juicy gossip. But unfortunately, that was not the case, as I was met by the stern glare of my teacher, who was expectantly staring at me, waiting for me to answer a question he had apparently asked me several times.

Needless to say, I fumbled for an answer. And after class, I received a painfully long talking-to about how I should be focusing on my work instead of daydreaming, because ultimately that wouldn't help me or get me anywhere in life.

Well, as a person who adores winning one-sided arguments and finding basically any justification for her mistakes, let me tell you about how daydreaming is beneficial.

First, let's talk about creativity. Have you ever experienced an aha moment when you're shampooing your hair or staring at that empty space on your ceiling? Well, that's no coincidence. In fact, that is daydreaming hard at work.

As we disconnect from our immediate surroundings to let our minds wander, we stimulate a section of our brain known as the default mode network, which is essential in processing, imagination, and spontaneous thinking.

This helps us to start subconsciously fostering deeper, more meaningful connections between various thoughts through the exploration of unconventional ideas and possibilities. In contrast, when we conform to society's traditional expectations of analytical thinking, we tend to narrow our focus and rely on what we already know as hard facts to produce a solution, which reduces our innovative capacity.

So getting into this daydreaming mindset helps us generate alternative solutions that are much harder to arrive at otherwise. Looking back, I realise that I've experienced this. For example, just 2 weeks ago, I hit a wall on what to write in my English essay around 30 minutes into the exam, because I just couldn't seem to find that deeper connection, if you know what I mean.

So rather than racking my brain for an answer, I actively zoned out for about 2 minutes. And finally, an idea connecting all of the thoughts I had spewed out of me. After that, I felt so good and satisfied emotionally. But physically? Well, my hand is pretty much dying by that point. No matter, a worthy sacrifice, I say.

Let me tell you, I'm not the only one who's experienced this. Though he may not have been writing an English essay at the time, Albert Einstein actually developed the theory of relativity thanks to daydreaming, which he, in suitable scientist style, referred to as his thought experiments.

Essentially what happened is as he grappled for a breakthrough with a new topic, he daydreamed about various ideas. And in this specific case, Einstein thought about what might happen if he was ever riding or running beside a beam of light to the age of the universe. So he simply let his mind wander and play around with this topic for a fair while, and boom, one of the most fundamental theories of all time was born.

Now, whilst we may not be daydreaming or thought experimenting to that extent, practising this quality, even on a more general basis, is particularly important as we get older, considering we often find ourselves to be conditioned to harness a more logistical and straightforward method of thinking, which leads to a lack of creativity.

By engaging with our creativity through daydreaming, we can ensure that we actively stimulate all those different parts of our brain and improve the efficacy of our cognitive processes, which aid in improving overall function, health, and lifestyle, because everything starts with and ultimately comes back to our brain.

However, this is only one aspect of the benefits. Daydreaming has also been shown to improve our mental health and overall productivity. Now, as a college student who is a major procrastinator and a slight overdoer, I'm pretty good at ending up in stressful situations.

However, I found that while I'm cramming in that last-second exam revision and slowly but surely reaching that emotional breaking point, leaning back in my chair, looking away from my desk and my work and letting my mind wander is the best remedy to ground myself.

I daydream about any number of things, from what it would be like working in my dream job as a doctor to how I would lead my double life if I was a ninja. But it's not just me who finds this daydreaming useful. Actually, researchers have commented on several occasions how daydreaming is an essential tool at our disposal when it comes to fostering positive changes to our mental health.

By letting our minds wander, even if it's just for 5 minutes at a time, our subconscious begins to organise and process all those overwhelming thoughts, which helps the intensity of the associated emotions to reduce, allowing us to re-engage with the world in a much calmer state. By extension, reaching this mindset helps us to refocus our attention on our inner thoughts, which also makes it easier to be more productive.

This particular capability of daydreaming can also be applied to numerous other scenarios. For example, at one point or another, I'm sure you've all been told just how important it is to get a good night's sleep. Well, sure, but it's not all that easy when you have a million thoughts racing through your mind.

In general, statistics show that at least 40% of people often go to bed with these stressful thoughts, which then penetrate their dreams, resulting in a not very restful night of sleep. In turn, this lack of rest for the brain and the body alike hinders the ability of people to complete day-to-day activities.

Luckily, in many cases, this can be combated by taking those few moments before bed to daydream. Research shows that this practice guides our subconscious to feel more prepared to handle pressure in the future and provides a sense of grounding and security. Therefore, people are more able to receive adequate rest, which positively influences their following day.

So whilst there are so many benefits past even the ones that I've talked about so far, there are undoubtedly a few disadvantages to daydreaming, as well-- I mean, other than your teacher lecturing you. As a person spends increasing time daydreaming, they tend to withdraw from real-life interactions. And researchers have found that their social abilities weaken significantly and relationships can become strained due to neglect.

Furthermore, by relying on the disconnect from reality to keep emotions in check, people can develop a sense of helplessness and sadness as they return to confront reality. In extreme cases, people can develop what's known as maladaptive daydreaming, a phenomenon where excessive levels of daydreaming interfere with completion of daily activities and begin to replace normal interactions.

However, just like with anything, if you carefully and appropriately implement daydreaming into your day, most issues are easily avoidable. It's simply a matter of moderation because too much of a good thing is never good-- so to quote my mum, when I'm on my fifth cup of tea for the day.

So despite what you may have been told numerous times in the past, just as I have, the plentiful evidence and the correlating facts are overwhelmingly in the favour of the notion that the applications of daydreaming can help us grow more effectively and more efficiently.

Hopefully, more of you will consider the benefits and spend just a little extra time in your day letting your mind run free without feeling guilty, yet perhaps feeling a little more accomplished. More importantly, if anyone ever tells you off for a little bit of harmless daydreaming, I hope that you can find more confidence in being able to inform them that you are improving your creativity, improving your lifestyle, your mental health and balance, just like I plan to do next time I'm back in maths.

JAMES SMITH: Let's jump straight in, shall we? So congratulations on your speech. In your special achievements, you mentioned that you were the winner of a competition called RoboCup. Is that as fun as it sounds? And why should people join?

DEBIKA DASGUPTA: Well, it sure is. I competed for several years, and yeah, that was the second time, I think, we made it to nationals. It's basically a competition. There are several categories. You can get robots to play soccer. You can get them to follow a maze, or you can get them to do an onstage performance. And being the dramatic person that I am, I obviously chose onstage.

It is so much fun because the amount of experience that you get incorporating that creativity and learning different types of code, working with robots, and incorporating engineering-- there are so many aspects to it that it really just expands your knowledge in so many ways. So I totally recommend that people should do it, and it would just be so beneficial.

It's just really fun to do overall. I know I had a really good experience. I got to do it with my best friend, so that was a really added benefit.

JAMES SMITH: I think I would have had 6 or 7 follow-up questions, but let's move on to your actual speech, Debika. You've positioned yourself in the speech as a pro-daydreamer. What do you think it is that stops more people your age from becoming daydreamers? What's getting in our way of actual embracing the daydreaming lifestyle?

DEBIKA DASGUPTA: Well, first of all, as you know, I'm sure, there's so much pressure to be focused all of the time, especially now that I'm in college. I know that there's pressure to stay focused, not procrastinate. And I have so many methods like Pomodoro timers to keep me on track.

We have all of these external pressures, whether it be from parents, from our peers, from our teachers. We're told not to waste our time constantly. I think that's one of the factors that plays in where we're sort of conditioned to believe that daydreaming is negative.

And we've been told that it's a waste of our time. So we are definitely in that mindset. I think that's probably one of the biggest contributing factors to why teenagers don't daydream as much.

Also the social media and the influence of being surrounded by so many attention-grabbing videos and things, we get absolutely consumed by that social media. We're not consuming it. It's consuming us.

And through that, we lose that time that we can spend daydreaming. And we lose that creativity. So I think it's a mixture of those factors. And like I was talking about in my speech, that we're forced to think more analytically, we lose that capability.

JAMES SMITH: Interesting. OK. A really, really quick response on this one. You mentioned that you're worried about ageism, in Australia, in particular. If you could wave a magic wand and fix ageism, how would you do that?

DEBIKA DASGUPTA: Good question. I think it would start by reducing the barriers between old and young. In some places this has taken place-- in nursing homes, I've seen it a lot where children have been interacting with the elderly.

And I think it makes us realise that as a society, we're not divided as just the elderly or just the younger generations. We are together. We share those similar ideas. So, if I could wave a magic wand, it would be more people start to realise that, more people gain that idea that we as a society are one.

JAMES SMITH: Excellent. Thanks, Debikah. I really appreciate your time.

OK, so our fifth and final contestant is Ruth Vincent, who attends Corpus Christi College in Western Australia. The subject of Ruth's speech is 'Mirror, mirror on the wall'.

RUTH VINCENT: 'Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all?' In a soothing voice, the mirror reassures her, 'Thou O Queen, are the fairest in the land. But what I say shouldn't matter. So why is it a demand? You're beautiful on the inside. So kind. But on the other hand, you always need constant reassurance. So every day I will make you understand.' And the mirror and the queen lived happily ever after. The end.

Now, if this is really how the fairy tale ended, we would have never been introduced to innocent Snow White, a classic damsel in distress who gets poisoned by the evil queen simply due to her own insecurities and negative body image. Because in reality, one day the mirror said to the queen, Snow White truly is the fairest of them all. And that was enough to make the queen's self-esteem fall.

Body image is a combination of the thoughts and feelings that you have about your body. After growing up, I can look back and the fairy tale was, ironically, a facade. Come on. The queen was portrayed as some evil, vicious, bloodthirsty wretch.

But really, she was hurting on the inside and needed help to build up a positive body image, which isn't always easy, especially when you're suffocated by bizarre, unrealistic expectations.

I mean, look at the princesses with their perfect hourglass figures, slender and dainty waists so small they probably don't have room for a rib cage or an abdomen. A blemish-free face, perfect nose, plump, full lips, huge eyes, long lashed eyelashes-- [sighs] the list just goes on and on. How does a normal human being like me or the evil queen compete with these unrealistic beauty standards?

And don't even get me started on Cinderella's small, dainty feet. In the original Grimm Brothers' very much grim versions, one of Cinderella's evil stepsisters cuts off her own toes and the other her heel, all so they could fit in to the tiny glass slipper.

If only one could see the immense pressure they were under. Instead of villainising them, we'd be sympathising with them. Alas, another 2 victims who fell prey to the expectations that society imposes on women's bodies.

Due to this toxicity that fairy tale has formed, growing up more on the plump side I couldn't relate with any of these princesses. So I was really into the one and only Dora the Explorer. I even got my hair cut like her, a short bob with a cute fringe.

And I had this imaginary scenario where I was her. But how could I be Dora without her pet monkey, Boots? I knew I couldn't possibly ask my parents for one, so I settled for my older brother, Sam, who practically acted like one half the time.

Anyways, the original character design of Dora was constructed as someone who was a little bit short and plump. She had a bit of her stomach showing from underneath her iconic pink shirt and had wide stubby legs covered in orange shorts. She looked like any other kid my age and made me feel comfortable with my weight and facial features growing up.

Has anyone seen the most recent character design of Dora? Well, she now has an unnatural slender body, perfect feminine facial features, and long hair. It broke my heart that someone who was almost a secret ambassador for body positivity was all of a sudden conforming to society's expectations. As her animator stated, they wanted to make her more appealing to the general audience.

The truth is, society's beauty standards are not only unachievable, they're also constantly changing. From the 16th century, when it was common to pluck out one's literal hairline, to the 18th century, when women wore corsets that suffocated them till they gasped for air-- as John Kenneth Galbraith once said, 'There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty.'

But that precisely is what makes this pursuit so interesting to mankind. We can't let these meaningless passing factors and opinions of those around us affect our very own personal body image, especially during the adolescence period of life, because that's when us kids are growing up.

And what we're exposed to, watch, and see really has the power to shape what it that we see in that mirror. The perfect hourglass figure or the chiselled 6-pack abs promoted all over social media can slowly seep into and poison one's mind, both male and female.

After watching several abs present in many superhero movies, I asked my dad where his abs were, because to me, he was my superhero. And he responded with, 'Of course I have abs. They're just hiding underneath my flabs.' I'm well aware of the stereotype that women care more about their appearance than men. But really in the day end, aren't we all just creatures who strive for love and validation?

A 2021 survey of 11- to 16-year-olds in our own beloved WA revealed that 46% of girls and 23% of boys felt that their body image causes them to worry. Over one-third of young adults stated they felt depressed due to their negative body image.

Just the thought of these scary percentages are so daunting. I mean, society will always be one to criticise and find flaws no matter how hard we try. Too short, too tall, too fat, too skinny, too pale, too dark-- and on and on and on.

Instead of asking, when will I ever be enough, ask yourself, when am I going to accept that I am enough? Because before we expect society to accept who we are, first, we must accept who it is that we see in that mirror.

As Sophia Loren, a great actress, once said, 'Beauty is how you feel on the inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.'

Come on. Winnie the Pooh didn't wear crop tops our entire childhood just to watch us grow ashamed of our beautiful bellies. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, overflowing with beauty. And that is a fact. And nobody's opinion can change that. Well, that is unless you allow them to.

So this time, as the queen approaches the mirror with a different mindset, she sings, 'Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?' But, for a change, she doesn't wait for the mirror to console her.

Instead, she continues, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Society, even you, my mirror may turn a cold shoulder. But I will always be beautiful. I know that, even if I get older.' And that was enough to make the queen happy, more than anything the mirror could have told her. Thank you.

JAMES SMITH: Fantastic speech on some really important content, as well. We're going to jump straight into the final interview of the prepared section.

So Ruth, your profile mentioned that you like teaching. And it seems to suggest that you may have even coached some public speaking before. Tell us a little bit about that or what makes you want to do that and why.

RUTH VINCENT: So I started coaching last year when I was in Year 11. My school has a public speaking club, and in that my public speaking teacher, Miss Byrd, allowed me to start coaching. And it was truly a blessed experience because that was my first time dealing with kids when I was a kid myself. So it was very easy to lose my patience and get annoyed at them.

But then it made me realise that, at their age, I was also like that. And because they're so young and they're so curious, their minds, it allowed me to teach them. But not only just teach them, but to learn while I'm teaching them. So it was truly wonderful.

I also started coaching out of school to a group of family and friends to assist them in becoming more confident to speak, because I believe that the ability of speaking is so important to express your views. And people need to know how to be confident about themselves in order to speak. So, yeah.

JAMES SMITH: Great. Fantastic. Good to have you on board.

OK, so your speech critiques beauty standards, particularly through the lens of, obviously, fairy tales and then 'Dora the Explorer', which I didn't know about. So thanks for ruining Dora for me. That's no worries.

In terms of that, obviously, those are really important messages. But what do you think is driving those changes? What do you think drove the change from Dora with the tummy to the more kind of tween version, and how is that actually happening?

RUTH VINCENT: I think it would be the rise of social media. Because when I was a kid, like, 10 years ago and I was watching Dora, Instagram and all that was not very sought-out there. Nowadays you see 10-year-olds on Instagram. That wasn't a common occurrence.

So all these childhood TV shows-- I used to sit and even watch 'Winnie the Pooh' with my mum-- so it was quite normal for this sort of experience. But now that there's been such an increase in exposure to social media and just the whole idea of internet access, I feel like our perspective has changed from what we see as normal bodies to this new norm being created by the increase of social media.

JAMES SMITH: Fantastic. OK. Finally, your question is also a little bit tricky for the future question. You mentioned that you care about First Nations representation. If you could speed up that process in any meaningful way with one piece of legislation, what would that piece of legislation be?

RUTH VINCENT: I'm very passionate about this, and I take any opportunity of impromptu or anything to speak about this topic. But I truly believe the first change in legislation that we must do is changing the date of Australia Day, because I believe that our very society is built on this foundation myth.

But really that's not the case. It's instead one of massacres, correct? And in order to move forward, in order to create change, what we have to do is make amends with what happened in the past. We can't just sweep it under the carpet.

So I believe by changing this date to any day, even Harmony Day, or even asking the Indigenous to what day they prefer, would be such a fantastic change that could drive us forward as a democracy.

JAMES SMITH: Very cool, Ruth. Thank you so much for that answer. And thank you, everybody for the interviews that you've conducted today. It was actually really a pleasure getting to know you. And based on the smiles around on the Zoom little profiles that I can see, this was actually wildly entertaining. And it's great to get to know the speakers a little bit better.

The finalists will now return one by one to give their 3-minute impromptu speeches. Each finalist will speak on the same subject after a 4-minute preparation time. The impromptu subject is 'On the fence'.

ELI GEARING: Someday is the enemy of today. It's the way we justify inaction. It's the way that we don't say no, but really mean no. Maybe we don't mean it, but it's the way it plays out.

It's so easy to say, I want to do that. One day I'll do that. Some day I'll get to it. But we all know if you're going to paint the house someday, if you're going to fix your back yard or get a better entertainment area someday, it's really not any time soon, and possibly not ever. Someday is the enemy of today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to finish high school. In a matter of months, I am going to be out of those gates, never to come back again, and that's a really scary thought. I look around at so many peers who know exactly what university they go to-- want to go to, sorry-- what they want to do long-term, the career they want to pursue, and I'm stuck here with precisely nothing.

I do not know where I want to be. I don't know what I want to go into. I have so many ideas, yet no decisions. I'm stuck on the metaphorical fence.

And that can feel so incredibly difficult. You don't want to commit to one side, because what about the other? The thought of losing access to one side can be scary. We talk about the grass being greener on the other side, but we have no other side.

All we have is a spiky pole underneath our feet with no idea which side actually looks greener. It can be so daunting to have to choose, and that's the position I find myself in now.

What's worse is the feeling that we should know. The feeling that not knowing, being on this fence, is indeed worse, which I feel is a myth that we tell ourselves. The truth is whether we think we know or not, whether we're on this fence or we've picked a side, we're all guilty of sometimes wanting to change, of wanting something else, of wanting to choose what we didn't, of wanting to move from where we are. Whether we're on the fence or we've picked a side, that possibility is always there.

So all this fence does to us is stop us from trying, stop us from tasting, sets back the someday from today and makes today just talking about that someday. It stops us from progressing because it puts a barrier between us and experience.

The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that we forget that we got on that fence once and we can climb back up again. We forget that just because we choose a side today doesn't mean we have to stick with it tomorrow. And we forget that just because we're afraid of heights doesn't mean that we can close our eyes and just jump, see where we land, and climb back up if we need to.

LUCY EALES: We can't be on the fence when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights.

Just recently, I was on my way to a debating competition in my local town of Ballarat. Normally, the journey is full of excitement, anticipating the time when I'll get to stand up and present my point of view.

But on the way to this debate, I witnessed a horrific sight. A far-right protest in my town, holding up signs with Bible verses on it, condemning LGBTQ+ people, their existence, their relationships. How horrifying is it for me, as a young person growing up in a town that I love, to see this attitude perpetuated by members of my community.

Furthermore, I know family and friends that hold these sorts of views and misconceptions about LGBTQ+ people. That any man who wants to dress in a feminine way is gay. That bisexuals are faking it. That bisexuality does not exist.

It's horrifying to me to see that these people that I trust are perpetuating these views about LGBTQ+ people. It is actively harmful to this community.

We even see these views spoken about on the national level. Back when Scott Morrison was prime minister, he proposed a controversial bill to parliament saying that religions should have the right to discriminate against discrimination, in reference to religions being able to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people if it fits their religion.

What does this do to the people of our country? It sends a message that we are willing to tolerate the exclusion of LGBTQ+ people in our communities and in our circles. It shows them that even those legislators who are at the very top of the food chain do not care truly for the lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ people and youth.

Scott Morrison's bill is nothing new when you think about this issue globally, however. In fact, it fits right in with lots of legislation from different countries on LGBTQ+ rights. For example, in Saudi Arabia, one can be put to death simply for being found to be in a homosexual relationship with a member of the same sex.

Why should we care about this? Why should we take a firm stance on this rather than be on the fence? Because these people are in our communities. They are our friends. They are our families.

We cannot stand by as educated, conscious citizens and allow for this to happen to our LGBTQ+ friends. We cannot afford to be on the fence on LGBTQ+ rights.

VIOLET FITZSIMONS: Around 8 years old, my mum enrolled me in jujitsu classes. And to be frank, I was on the fence at the start. It was a bit scary. There were a lot of boys in the gym. But quickly I got very excited.

Not only was putting boys in headlocks allowed, it was actively encouraged. And I became a very enthusiastic member for years, going to the dojo every week until, mysteriously, at the age of 11, I dropped out.

The only clues as to why this sudden change occurred was that the gym had been refloored to a perfect white, and as a result, everyone had to wear a white gi to training as our uniform. Suddenly, little 11-year-old me wasn't so excited. I was on the fence.

I'd recently gotten my first period and was really, really nervous when it came to accidental stains or embarrassing myself. And it came to the point where either, I, as an 11-year-old girl, was going to have a discussion with my 45-year-old male coach about my menstrual cycle, or I was going to have to make the choice to maybe not do jujitsu anymore if I wanted to feel comfortable.

I dropped. I didn't participate in sport. And my story is one that's shared by young girls across Australia. A recent article by 'The Conversation' highlighted that girls are 2 times as likely as boys to drop out of sport between the ages of 12 and 15, and over one-half of those girls state that menstrual anxiety prevents them from showing up to training on the regular.

It's apparent this issue is prevalent in Australia, and it's so concerning. For years, we've been sitting on the fence as a nation, not really wanting to discuss this taboo. No one loves to discuss the reproductive organs at the best of times, let alone with small girls, our daughters. We don't want to have these chats with, but we need to.

Sport is a place of empowerment and community and unity for young women when they're going through such a difficult time of puberty. So it's not good enough to sit on the fence. It's not good enough to say, she'll be all right. It'll sort itself out. Because she's plainly not all right.

It's not just little girls. A study from the 2023 FIFA World Cup showed that professional female athletes in soccer when they wore white shorts in the FIFA World Cup, scored 37% less goals than those who wore dark shorts. This issue is affecting all female athletes.

So far, we've had some action towards getting off that fence and making action. Sport Your Period is an incredible organisation that advocates for better menstrual awareness, better coach training, female empowerment, facilities for women's menstruation.

But it's just at a professional level. That doesn't stop the grassroot issue of thousands of young girls dropping out of sport at such a vital age. It's apparent it's not good enough to sit on the fence anymore. We need to take action to ensure our young girls are empowered in sport and we can see them thriving on a global stage.

This issue won't sort itself out. We need to take action. Sitting on the fence isn't going to cut it. It's pretty obvious what we need to do, as well. The simple changes-- the cricket whites, the soccer shorts, the gis. We need to have shorts and uniforms that make young women feel comfortable.

We need to ensure our coaches are willing and able to have those conversations, and furthermore, that the menstrual cycle isn't a taboo in sport. We know it affects women's performance. We know it stops them from showing up. So we need to combat this on both a cultural and practical level, just in terms of changing our uniforms.

Sitting on the fence isn't going to cut it anymore. We need to make sure that there are young girls out there putting boys in headlocks in jujitsu. Thank you.

DEBIKA DASGUPTA: We, Australia, just got out of one of the worst pandemics we've ever seen-- COVID-19. But unfortunately, today I have some worse news to share-- that we are on the fence of another pandemic. Except it's not another virus. It's the pandemic of teenagers taking up drugs and smoking.

Now, I don't know about you, but I've certainly noticed on the street there is an increasing number of people smoking. And they're just getting younger and younger. I hold my breath and I pass them.

It's so sad to see them. And just the other day, as I was holding my breath, passing these people, I was wondering, what is it that they're driven by? Later that afternoon, I was scrolling on Instagram, and lo and behold, what did I get? An ad for vapes.

Vapes are cool. Drugs are cool for teenagers now. And the social media pressures are undeniable. 90% of teenagers now are on some form or other of social media, and they're constantly consuming this knowledge. There is an increasing amount of advertising in teen content about drugs and vaping. It's represented as cool.

I know that I've felt the pressures of this myself in real life. I had some friends, for example, who I had known since the day that I was born. We had been unbelievably close. Then they got into drugs and they got into vaping.

And over Instagram at 3 o'clock in the morning they messaged me whether I wanted drugs. I refused, and they cut me off. It's undeniable the impact that it has on those people and us. And sadly, this is not just the story of me. This is the story of so many other people.

But how do we combat this? All too quickly, we immediately jump to the solution of let's ban social media. If you've seen the news, we've been talking about putting restrictions. But when has that ever helped?

How many times have we ever seen putting a ban on something help people? For example, I know that my parents banned me from watching the iPad at late at night. But when I was 5, I found a way to sneak around that. It's never helped putting a ban on something.

As a society, if we truly want to help take this problem off the fence, we must help. We must guide these teenagers who are currently on the fence of falling off into another pandemic that will ruin their lives forever.

RUTH VINCENT: Australia Day, a day we celebrate as a nation honouring when our homeland was first established. Or, well, at least that's the facade we choose to believe in. We collectively choose to live on the fence. Because it is also a day when many remember the scar that history pierced, the unforgiving bloodshed and the cries of pain, loss, and grief.

Stan Grant, an Indigenous Australian journalist, stated, 'I choose not to celebrate what is called Australia Day. How can a nation in good conscience mark its national date on the day this land was stolen from the first people?' Stan Grant is without a doubt correct. How can we celebrate when many mourn remembering the massacres that took place?

Australia's history is that of a bloody one, one filled with trial, torment, and tribulation. As compensation for the blood that is on our hands, it is our duty to jump off this fence and try to make amends, not by endeavouring to shape the past, but instead to beautifully craft the future, beautifully craft the future by first changing the date of Australia Day. Then, and only then, can we all stand in unison singing 'Advance Australia Fair'.

February 13, 2008. This date, Kevin Rudd, our former president-- sorry, my bad-- our former prime minister paid his respects to the nation's first people by officially apologising. What better day to change our national day to the day that we as a nation were on the right side of this fence, accepted our wrongs, and moved forward to create hope for the future.

After the scar that history has pierced, this may be our last chance of redemption, our last chance to reduce the gap between human and human, to be ethical, to be forgiven. So then my children and their children, when they celebrate Australia Day, it will not be a reminder of a day marked with innocent bloodshed, but instead one of peace, one that symbolises the day that we jumped off this fence and moved forward as an equal, loving democracy.

Let us make this change now so that Australia Day will not be the 26th of January. Instead, it will be something revolutionary, perhaps even the 20th of February. So are you ready to make this change? Are you ready to change the date before it's too late?

LUCY BEALE: Hi, everyone. Congratulations on what was a genuinely compelling and interesting final. All speakers today gave speeches that got the panel excited about the future leaders of our world.

I think it's important to note how important it is that you all come here today and give such interesting perspectives. Young people's voices are indeed incredibly important as it is what you think and what you feel that will inform the policies and the legislation that we will see in 10, 20 years down the line.

So I think let's take a moment to reflect on how exciting it is to see our future leaders today. You were all very impressive, and the panel was collectively excited by what you had to say.

I'm going to do a couple of things in this adjudication. I'm going to go through what we valued in each of the sections. Then I'm going to tell you a little bit about what we valued in the winner's speech. And then I am, of course, going to tell you who won and who is our national champion.

In the prepared section, the panel valued personal speeches. Now, creating a personal speech can happen in a multitude of ways. It doesn't have to mean that this is something you experienced.

But it's being able to, through personal anecdotes, through analogies, through bridging experiences and gaps, explain to the panel why you are uniquely capable of giving this speech and why you have expertise that you're able to share that other people couldn't.

I think this is a moment where it's exciting to see students embrace the fact that they are young people, to talk about how, as students, they have unique experiences and how they see a better future for the world in front of them. When we saw speakers who engaged in that aspect and who really embraced their personal perspective, we valued that, as a panel, a lot.

I think what we thought that this group of speakers could perhaps improve on, though, is making sure that when your argument is placed under a microscope, that it holds up, that you formulate your speech in a cohesive, clear, and convincing way so that the message and the intent that you started with is successfully proven and communicated to the audience.

It's important to remember that when you give a speech, the audience may not be immediately on your side. So you have to think about the kind of examples, the kind of rhetoric, the kind of framing devices that you can use to make sure that you get them on your side and that they are convinced to change the way that they act as a result of listening to what you said.

I think the better speeches in today's final had a clear intention for the message that they had and what they wanted to see change in the world and were able to effectively communicate it so that tomorrow I believe that I will, and certainly everyone who watched this speech will, change the way they act as a result of it.

So that's super important, because you're prepared speech is your opportunity to really think about your topic in detail. So it's very, very important that it can hold up under the kind of scrutiny that occurs when a panel considers it.

For the impromptu section, I think that 'On the fence' overall was done well by all of the speakers today. So I think you should all be happy for the fact that you gave a clear and cohesive speech in a very, very intense and pressurised situation.

What we ended up valuing in the impromptu, though, is speakers that were able to interact with the substance of the topic. So it's important that whilst 'On the fence' should be the title of your speech, it should also be the essence of your speech. What does that mean? It should be how you analyse the issue. It should be how you ask yourself questions about the issue.

If the topic is 'On the fence', ask yourself 'Who is on the fence? What side of the fence should they fall on? Why should they fall on a certain side? What is the imperative for them to fall?'

I think that the speaker that was able to answer these questions in their speech and through their analysis encapsulate the conceit of the topic, they were able to stand out because we understood that this topic was woven throughout the speech more than just being a title.

That's super important because it tells the panel that you have sat in the preparation room and genuinely considered the topic. And it means that we trust your perspective on the world.

Additionally, I think it was good when speakers had a clear structure, so emulating what you would like to see in a prepared speech. But overall, I think this was quite a successful section, so you should focus on the minutia of how you interact with the topic to become even better.

And for the interview section, we really appreciated when speakers were able to add depth to their speeches through this section. You were able to demonstrate further that you are a holistic young person with a clear perspective on the world. And when your answers were able to add to the nuance of your speech, or to add to our perception of you as someone with clear and cohesive opinions, that was important.

I think that this was achieved by being able to bring in personal experiences or outside examples and apply them to the question. And I think it was also achieved by being concise and clear with your answers, to not talk and ramble on, but to focus on a clear message that you want to emulate in the interview section that reflects what you intended to do with your prepared speech.

Overall, though, I think this section was completed incredibly well, and we got a really good sense of who you all are as individuals, and that was really promising to see.

Now, who is the winner of today's national final for the Plain English Speaking Award? Well, the winner today was an incredible speaker. And I think I speak on behalf of the panel when I say that we all got goosebumps when listening to the message of this speaker.

For their prepared speech, they were able to formulate an issue that's often talked about through a new lens and was able to do so in a way that created an anchor to navigate what is quite a complex issue.

We got the sense of this speaker's personal passion for this speech, that it was personal and they were deeply passionate about it but had also taken steps to have personal experience with it through conversations and through their actions in the community.

We thought that the speaker was able to present a really clear and actionable solution, which meant that tomorrow we could go out into the world and actually enact the changes that they sought to see, that we were going to be better members of society as a result of hearing this message.

The impromptu section? I think this was a very successful and clear, impromptu speech as it was able to interact with the substance of the topic and analyse the topic in a really clear and cohesive way.

For the interview section, I think that this successfully added depth to our perception of this young person. We got a sense of the holistic nature of this speaker in their experiences, in what they cared about, but also saw that they were not afraid to tackle the more complex aspects of the issue on which they were discussing, but still discuss this issue with respect.

And so for all of those reasons, for the genuinely impressive nature of the way this speaker presented themself, I am very, very proud to announce that the winner of the national final of the Plain English Speaking Award is Lucy Eales.