Pilbara brothers Stuart & Troy Wood craft plan to solve regional WA’s housing crisis on youth parliament trip

Two brothers from Karratha chosen to participate in a youth-run advocacy program have crafted a bill aimed at keeping regional communities alive. The YMCA WA Youth Parliament gives young people the opportunity to take on the role as members of Parliament and create Bills reflecting the interest of youths in their area. Stuart and Troy Wood, both 15, along with four other regional students, crafted a Bill titled Maintaining and Raising Regional Population and created a regional home buyers grant scheme aimed at keeping people in the region. “We put on the scheme so people could buy houses easier so they can live in the regions and keep people there,” Stuart said. “We’re also having more community engagement centres for everyone, including the arts and having the best arts community, to keep people at the region.” Troy said he and his brother were worried the Pilbara would decrease in population if the mines ever closed. “We’re really just wanting to keep regional people where they are and let them enjoy the beautiful scenery, the amazing people and the community,” he said. “I thought in Perth they would understand the regions a lot better but it’s really shown they don’t and it’s really good that we finally get to represent ourselves.” Youth Parliament co-ordinator Doug Jackson said it was previously a metropolitan-centred program but they reached out to regional WA this year. “One of the ways I think we’ve managed to do that is through YMCA’s connections and our strong relationships with regional MPs who are able to promote the program really effectively and are traditionally big supporters,” he said. The participants debated their bills from July 11 to July 16 in Perth.