DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH MAKES A PITCH

Legalised marijuana, IVF treatment for same-sex couples, free milk and
condoms in schools, tougher penalties for driving while using a mobile phone.

It's the world as it should be, according to Victoria's youth - or at
least, their collective voice represented by a delegation that came to
Canberra yesterday.

They also want tougher jail sentences so that "life" means life, drug laws
that target dealers, the contraceptive pill available over the counter,
magazines that feature models at least size 12, and confidential telephone
counselling in schools.

Yesterday five secondary school students delivered 14 pages of
recommendations to Prime Minister John Howard and Education Minister David
Kemp, shadow treasurer Simon Crean and Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja.

The recommendations, on a range of topics, were drawn from around 2500
Victorian secondary school students who this year attended five forums,
held by the youth suicide prevention group Here for Life.

More than 220,000 Victorian students took part in Youth Week activities.
They came from 162 government and private schools, from urban and rural
communities and these, collectively, were their views.

"Please don't think these are just our opinions," said Michael Feller, 17,
of Eltham College. "These recommendations have come from all the young people."

The delegates said they expected the politicians to read their
recommendations, discuss them, work them into policy and help turn their
ideas into reality.

"We will have people in Melbourne asking what we have done, what the
politicians are doing, when things will become law, so we'll be checking,"
said delegate Melanie Kay, 16, from Mount Waverley Secondary College.

"I feel incredibly empowered to be here," said delegate Fran Haysey, 17,
from Tallangatta Secondary College.

"Hopefully, I'll be running the country one day."