By Ewen McRae
Pranati Parikh has a passion for the law, and it’s set to take her all the way to federal parliament.
The Lakeview Senior College year 12 student will jet off to Canberra this week to take part in the 25th National Schools Constitutional Convention at Old Parliament House.
She will join 120 other students from all over Australia to spend three days in debate and discussion, which will then be presented to the president of the Senate, Scott Ryan.
After participating in a similar program at state parliament last year, Pranati said she was excited to expand her knowledge in the capital.
“I wanted to gain some more experience about the legal system, so I applied for this and was lucky to get in,” she said
“I’m so into law and politics at the moment, so just the experience of going to Canberra to be a part of this is so exciting. My parents are even saying how much this could count towards my future goals so it’s pretty cool.”
Pranati was selected from over 800 applicants, and will debate the topic ‘Federalism: The Constitution and Australia’s Water.’
“We got a 19 page program which outlined everything we needed to know, so I’m learning more about the constitution in the lead up to the trip,” Pranati said.
“There’s so many cases to explore, which is really exciting because these are old cases that really happened so it feels really real and authentic.
“Meeting new people who are into the same things as me is really exciting as well, it’s just such a great opportunity.”
As well as the convention, Pranati and the other delegates will get to the meet the Governor General, attend a reception at Government House, and a dinner at the High Court of Australia
She hopes the trip -which runs from March 17 to 20- will give her more options for her future endeavours.
“I want to go into the law,” she said.
“At the moment I’m thinking family law once I finish school, but we’ll see where I end up. This will give me a good insight and maybe some more options, we’ll see.”
