The strain of having a shortage of doctors on communities like Parkes is reaching our youngest residents.
One such young person is Oscar Hendry from Red Bend Catholic College who chose to highlight the issue in a short film competition, the 2024 Parli-Flicks Short Film Award organised through NSW Parliamentary Education and Engagement .
And to the 13-year-old's surprise he won Best Regional Entry.
This exciting competition challenged students from Year 5 to 12 across NSW to craft a one-minute short film exploring a thought-provoking question: If you were a Member of Parliament, what law would you pass and how would you implement it?
Oscar’s video highlighted the doctor shortage in regional NSW and proposed incentives for doctors practicing in towns with a population of less than 20,000.
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"It's a really important issue in country towns like Parkes and the shortage is putting pressure on our health services, health workers and our community," he said.
"I wanted to bring it to the attention of politicians in the hope that more could be done to support the doctors and health workers that we have here now and to attract more to work in our town and others like ours.
"A healthy community is so important."
Oscar was keen to give the competition a go after his mum Kelly spotted it online.
"I thought it sounded pretty interesting, it was during the July school holidays and I thought it would be a good thing to keep busy and try something new," he said.
"First I discussed and brainstormed some ideas around the theme of the film and what its message was going to be. I then worked on building a script and workshopping the words and determining characters.
"I quite enjoy watching Jimmy Rees videos where he plays multiple characters and wanted to try and do something similar.
"I decided to feature a politician and needed a second character who brought a very different personality to the film. I landed on an elderly lady who was upset about the doctor shortage, and asked questions of the politician."
Oscar called it Medicos for Mildred and played both characters when they were speaking on film, his younger sister Gloria stepped in as an extra when he needed it.
"I needed a body double for the long shots, so I recruited my little sister to dress as the granny when both actors were onscreen together," Oscar said.
Once filming was finished, he edited it all on his laptop.
"I was part of Aurora College in years 5 and 6 via my primary school Parkes East. In Aurora, we learned a lot of tech skills including film editing which we used to present our STEM projects in our online classes," Oscar said.
"It has been a handy skill to have."
If you'd like to watch Oscar's short film, you can do so by visiting education.parliament.nsw.gov.au/parli-flicks-short-film-award-2024-finalists/ and scrolling down.
"It was challenging to get the script and important messages in under a minute," he said.
" When I was editing, I had to cut a lot of the shots between speaking out and speed some footage up.
"But one minute was a strict criteria for the competition. I had to really think about what was important enough to keep in and what could be cut."
Five entries were shortlisted in the categories of Best Regional, Best Metropolitan, Best Primary (Years 5 and 6), Best Junior Secondary (Years 7 to 9), and Best Senior Secondary (Years 10 to 12).
Finalists attended an awards night at NSW Parliament in Sydney on November 13, where the winners were announced and presented a medal.
"I felt proud that my video was chosen and that my ideas were heard by the politicians in the room. It has been a great experience," Oscar said.
While they were there, students were given a tour of Parliament House and were able to attend a debate in the Legislative Assembly, and meet with Member for Orange Philip Donato to chat about the process of parliament.
"I found it really fun to come up with the ideas, storyboard the characters and scenes, and edit it all," he said.
"I hadn't watched it for a few months since entering, so it was funny seeing it on the big screen at Parliament House at the finals and how it all came together.
"Both the lower and upper house were sitting while we were there and we got to sit in the gallery and watch.
"It was very interesting to see how laws are made and the types of things that Parliament debate, for example parking fines.
"It was good to meet the other finalists from around NSW who were all very nice."
As for whether Oscar might consider a future in politics, he said he's still young and interested in lots of things.
"But it does seem like a very interesting world and where you can have a positive impact for your community."
Red Bend said they are proud of not only Oscar's filmmaking talent, but also his passion for shaping the future.
Oscar would like to thank Red Bend for its support during his trip to Sydney and representing the school, and to NSW Parliament for running the competition.
"It was a really great opportunity for me and to encourage youth to understand politics, and processes and I hope they continue it," he said.
"Everyone was very enthusiastic and kind.
"Thanks also to Mr Donato for his time and interest, and thanks to my mum for taking me to Sydney - it was really nice to spend that time together and do some fun things."
