A young girl has described her excitement after receiving a response from Premier Daniel Andrews to her heartfelt letter.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The idea for the letter came when eight-year-old Rebecca Harrison suffered a ruptured appendix in January and underwent emergency surgery at Ballarat Base Hospital.
After her blood pressure monitor was not working, the Mount Pleasant Primary School pupil thought the hospital could do with some better equipment, which would help the staff in their important role of tending to people in need.
So Rebecca penned letters to the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews imploring them for more funding into health services in Ballarat.
“It is a really big thing to me because I really want to help the people that are in hospital, because some people don’t have that much money to go to hospital,” she said.
“I felt very excited that he (Mr Andrews) answered. It was really great that I got the letter and when I was reading it, I felt really proud.”
Her grandfather, renowned Aboriginal elder Murray Harrison, said the family was also very proud.
“She did all of this on her own,” he said. “It really is great to be able to have a voice from someone so young, who is thinking not only of herself but of others.”
In the letter, Mr Andrews said he liked to hear stories from young people, so that he would know how he could make things better.
He said providing better and safer healthcare for Victoria was one of his top priorities and mentioned the Andrews Labor Government’s $10 million laboratory for cardiac surgery to be completed in Ballarat this year.
Rebecca had shown the official looking letter to her teacher and friends at school.
She wanted to say “thank you” to the Victorian Premier, because being heard was a “real big pleasure” and had encouraged her to continue speaking up about her concerns.
Some of these concerns included homelessness, racism and social inequality. She would also like to see more money go towards diseases such as cancer.
“We know how busy these people are, but to get a letter back Bec was very excited,” Mr Harrison said. “And so were we because this is the future of not only the Indigenous generation, but the whole of Australia.”
Rebecca is yet to receive a response from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.