The college’s student leadership team arrived in Canberra on Thursday morning, but entered Parliament House as internal fractures within the Liberal Party came to a head.

There for it all were Teaghan Keen and Jye McBurnie.

The 17-year-old WSSC duo said seeing Thursday’s events play out had been an eye-opening experience.

“Living in Albury-Wodonga, you only get the media’s view of things, but to actually be in parliament, you get a whole different take on things,” Teaghan said.

“It’s not just politicians, you hear everything that’s happening around you, you can see what’s happening in the chambers.

“Everything in Canberra revolves around politicians, to know I was so close to the action is really interesting.”  

The group met with Indi MP Cathy McGowan during their visit to Parliament House.

“It was pretty tense...but also very intriguing being amongst it all,” Jye said.

“A lot of the action was happening when we were there, a lot of talk behind the scenes, a lot of whispers.

“We ended up on the second floor of the house looking down at the media questioning various ministers.” 

Both Teaghan and Jye were critical of the government’s implosion.

“If someone has been elected they should complete their term, but we are evolving and that is clearly not working any more,” Teaghan said.

“Malcolm Turnbull was essentially kicked out, I think we need to revise the system and come up with something more efficient for Australia as it develops.” 

Jye was similarly unimpressed.

“My impression was that it was a bit of a bloodbath,” he said.

“The future of Australia lies in youth, but it was our politicians who were acting like a bunch of primary school kids.” 

WSSC campus principal Cassandra Walters was also on the trip, and said she had been impressed by the students’ interest in politics.

“They’ll be able to tell their kids there were here when it all happened,” she said.