One of last year's winner's is Jack Piggott, he's originally from Rolleston in Central Queensland but is studying law at Bond on the Gold Coast. He says he loved his trip to Canberra.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a complete blast, getting to meet up with 30 or 35 other young Australians from pretty much every walk of life. They say that's the thing about country kids you put them all in a room and you won't ever get them to shut up."
Mr Piggott says since Heywire he has been lots of opportunities including forming a working group to talk about rural mental health.
"We've since formed a working group 'How to change your life' to look at improving mental health services for rural and regional Australians. We've been getting a lot of good feedback and we've been partnering with a lot of people to help ensure that we get those outcomes for people." Jack Piggott says he encourages everyone to have a go at the Heywire competition.
"Even if you don't think what you do is remarkable, you'll be absolutely surprised how people react to plain, honest stories about hard work and about your life." 

[Below is an extract of that program.]

Queensland president of the Rural Doctors Association Dr Dan Halliday says rural Queensland has largely missed out.
"Certainly we don't think it goes far enough," Dr Halliday says.
"There is nothing in this Budget to address the issues that we have about equity of access to health professionals by rural patients."It certainly doesn't address the need for specific interventions to target getting rural doctors trained and recruited into rural areas." Dr Halliday says more money needed to be targeted at remote health services. "It appears there is a very small amount of this funding going to the rural or really remote areas of rural Queensland."

For 20-year-old mental health advocate Jack Piggott from Rolleston in central Queensland the funding is welcomed.
"It's not a silver bullet, it's not going to solve it all but it's a very big step in the right direction," he says.
But like the Queensland Rural Doctors Association, Jack Piggott wants a guarantee the money will make it to regional Queensland.
"The numbers are quiet staggering, I think there is up to 2.4 times the rate of suicide in rural areas compared to urban and regional areas," he says.
"Numbers like that speak for themselves so hopefully within these programs there are provisions to ensure rural and regional people do have access to these services.
"We're yet to see much of the detail to come from it."  [Below is an extract of that program.]

Jack Piggott from Rolleston in remote Central Queensland explains, "A telephone psychology clinic means clients would be referred to the service by their doctor enabling the service to utilise the existing Medicare rebate structure."
The clinic would offer the same, highly qualified, psychologist each time, who would know the particulars of their client, and would be able to offer ongoing treatment (as opposed to current telephone services which focus on intervention).
Mr Piggott says, "We are currently seeking to partner with the Rural Doctor's Association, the Australian Psychological Society, Beyond Blue, Headspace and to build on the experience of Lifeline." "Lifeline provides an excellent service supporting people in times of crisis, but there are no services that provide preventative and ongoing support for people in remote areas experiencing depression or just having a tough time."

[Above] Jack Piggott from Rolleston in central Queensland talks about the group formed at ABC Rural's Heywire Forum in Canberra and their campaign to offer people in the bush a mental health phone service.

[Above] Heywire winner Jack Piggott, Emmy-Lou Quirke a registered nurse in Queensland and Briony Walker from Headspace the Youth Mental Health Foundation discuss the idea for a psychologist on the phone for remote youth.

A group of young rural Australians are campaigning to introduce better mental health services to the bush.
The group, How to Change a Life, was formed at the annual ABC Rural Heywire forum in Canberra.
One member, Jack Piggott, from Rolleston in central Queensland, says their two plans include a telephone psychology clinic and a 'Support the Supporters' online mental health site.
"Attitudes are changing out there and people are starting talk about it," he said.
"It's not so taboo anymore, but the support service is still really aren't there.
"There has been great work that has been done, but I think we need to be doing more."

An article about my involvement in Heywire, and some of the ideas that came from the Winner's Forum.
For the full article click on the image, or view the original (via Media Monitors.)

Extract:


" ROLLESTON'S Jack Piggott recently got the type of access most rural Australians could only dream about - the right of entry into the offices of our nation's leaders. Mr Piggott was in Canberra to take part in a week of face-toface meetings with politicians where innovative ideas to support rural Australia were the topics of discussion.

The 20-year-old Law and Biomedicine student at Gold Coast's Bond University was one of the coveted 2010 finalists in the ABC's Heywire program, a competition for young
people from rural Australia, that called for stories to be submitted about the entrant and the community they lived in. "

"His winning entry, The Great Divide, focused on how country communities had been "dismissed and forgotten", making a case for regional Australia to be put back on the agenda and highlighting the disparity between city and country life.

The former Youth Parliament Premier was contacted by ABC Capricornia in the leadup to the competition."

During the Heywire winners forum we were part of a live broadcast from Parliament House on Radio National's Bush Telegraph. 
Below is an extract of that program.

A story written by Alice Roberts, while the ABC was doing a broadcast from my home town (Rolleston) about my Youth Parliment experiences. Click here to read the full article which also went to air.

Extract:

"Imagine making political decisions, writing legislation and hoping to become the State Premier at the age of 19.That's exactly what one member of the Queensland Youth Parliament is striving to do.

Rolleston local Jack Piggott has not only written legislation addressing youth crime, but is also gathering support to get more young people involved in their communities."

A piece for the CQ News.  The flood (beginning of 2010) in the article pales in comparison to the 2010-11 flooding. Click here to read the full article

Extract:

"Home from university, Jack, 19, and his parents have been stuck on their cattle property ‘Christmas Creek’, between Rolleston and Injune as the Comet River burst its banks.

While a fortnight away from the grocery store would leave many households in a crisis, Jack and his family only shop once a month and had gone days before the water closed them off."

Another piece about Youth Parliament.
Click the image for a larger view (scanned).

Extract:

"During his year as the Gregory representative, Jack took part in writing a Bill called the Alternative Youth Sentencing Act with the Justice and Attorney General's Committee."

"Jack explained 90 per cent of the bills created and written as part of the Youth Parliament program went on to become legislation."

"Jack Piggott was awarded the Most outstanding Orator Award at the end of the program."

"Jack Piggott and Miranda McLachlan, also in year 12, won first place in the Architectural category entitled 'Spiritual Space to Function With or Without Water, as well as the best overall design award.

"These student's combined points nudged them ahead of other competitors from Australia and abroad," said RGS graphics coordinator Steve Latham.

Two of Rockhampton City Council's Youth Councillors, Caterina Nicolo and Jack Piggott were chosen by Brisbane City Council to attend one of the leading business and government forums in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Mr Piggott, Vice-Captain at the Rockhampton Grammar School, said he saw the summit as an opportunity to discuss some "really big issues" facing the region - "areas such as forward-thinking urban planning, public transport, technology and its place in society and how to minimise our footprint on the environment economically."

Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow said the council was extremely proud of the two youth councillors. "The more opportunity these two youth councillors have to contribute, the stronger Rockhampton's future will be," Cr Strelow said.