Year 7 students write to the environment minister. Then department heads turn up

Year 7 students at a private school in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) wrote letters to the Northern Territory environment minister Lauren Moss protesting against a proposed water allocation plan. Less than six weeks later, two representatives from her department came to the school to ensure students had both sides of the story.

“Dear Minister Moss, have you ever lived in the outback where, for want of a more descriptive word, it is dry,” one student’s letter begins.

The 37 letters (condensed into email format) from the St Philip’s College students were sent to Moss on May 21.