LOCAL 16-year-old Eden Matthews-Frederick will this year hand Queensland parliament a bill that, if passed, will ensure all public hospital patients “have a voice” during times of need.
Ms Matthews-Frederick is the Youth Member for Waterford in Queensland’s youth parliament, where she represents all 15 to 25-year-olds in the area.
Youth members were chosen from a pool of 500 applicants to represent their local communities about the issues affecting them and allow young people to share their opinions, concerns, and passions.
The youth parliament last week passed eight bills covering a range of ‘government portfolios’. Ms Matthews-Frederick was in a group of 10 responsible for health, emergency services, disabilities, and seniors.
“Our committee this year focused on legislating Ryan’s Rule, which is a policy currently in Queensland’s public hospitals, and it basically ensures that patients have a voice if they feel like they’re not getting the treatment they deserve,” Ms Matthews-Frederick said.
“If they feel like a treatment isn’t going how it should, or if they feel like they’re not getting better, they can call a helpline, which is Ryan’s Rule helpline, to request an investigation.
“But currently, that process isn’t working very well, so by our committee legislating it this year, we are ensuring that all patients are adequately heard and taken care of.”
Ms Matthews-Frederick said the issue was personal to their committee. A grandparent of one committee member requested an investigation into their medical treatment. It took one year before that complaint was investigated, by which point the grandparent had passed away.
The bill was passed by the youth parliament unanimously, and will be presented to the state government later this year.
Seven other committees focused on issues in portfolios like: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships; education and the arts, employment and training for business, family business and industrial relations; the energy, science, innovation, local government and water; and several others.
“Youth parliaments are a really crucial part of Queensland, because otherwise, how else would our lawmakers really comprehend what matters to young people?” Ms Matthews-Frederick said.
“By our bills getting passed in the youth parliament, they get handed up to the ‘proper’ parliament.
“It gives youth in Queensland more visibility, so we actually can get our problems seen.”
Ms Matthews-Frederick said participating in the youth parliament was a positive and empowering experience that has motivated her to become even more involved in her community.
“The range of age really helped in the fact that everyone had such a unique perspective and experience of Queensland as a whole,” she said.
“I have a different perspective on health than someone who is 20 does, and I found it really incredible just to work with such passionate and amazing people in our committee.
“I think the fact that we were all in one place for one common goal was just incredible; it was such a great feeling and a great accomplishment.”
