The value of Youth MPs put under a question mark

RNZ News

3 days ago

Photo:
VNP/Louis Collins
A former politician says change is needed to the Youth Parliament system if it's to stay relevant.
MP-turned political commentator Peter Dunne says the scheme isn't just "a rag-tag collection of young people coming together for a couple of days to play at being MPs", but if the event is going to be taken seriously, more consistency is required around its processes.
That's not the case at the moment, in everything from how the teens are selected to the quality of the mentorship they're getting.
The tri-annual event usually passes under the media radar, but this year's event was overshadowed by what a handful of Youth MPs said was
censorship of their speeches
.
Dunne says he could understand the intention behind the message from the Ministry of Youth Development, which asked some students to remove parts of their speeches where they lacked political neutrality, but the issue could have been handled better.
In the end, none of the students were stopped from making their speeches, even if they didn't make the changes.
Youth Parliament has been held every three years for the past three decades and is described by the government as, "a unique opportunity for young New Zealanders to learn first-hand about our democracy, influence government decision-making, and have their voices heard".
In many ways it's like the real thing, with MPs selecting teens to represent them for a couple of days in Parliament where they debate, give speeches and discuss fictional legislation. Dunne says often the young adults outshine the older MPs.
"The contrast has usually been between the impeccable behaviour of the youth MPs and the somewhat unruly behaviour of their adult counterparts," he says.
The first Youth Parliament was held in 1995 and initially was just a couple of days. Now the programme has expanded, running from April to August and Dunne questions how much teens take out of those extra two months and 29 days.
"And more importantly, what weight is attached to that? They've got no formal status in the community, so what role can they play?" he asks.
Dunne says much of what the young aspiring politicians learn and do is dependent on the MP they are mentored by.
"In some cases they won't do very much, in some cases the MP will work actively with them and assign them a particular project," Dunne says.
There also aren't any rules around how MPs select their mentee. Some get applicants to write essays, this year David Seymour held an election, and Dunne says a couple just shoulder tap the kids of a mate.
"The time is right to have a proper review into its function and purpose, including the role of the Youth MPs, how they're selected and what are reasonable expectations of them.
"Because I think that with a much clearer focus the youth parliament can play a much greater role than it has done to date," Dunne says.
Oscar Duffy, representing List MP Melissa Lee became interested in politics last year when his nan was in hospital.
"She's a Māori lady and she didn't have the best experience ... so that was a pretty key driver in me being interested in what's going on.
"Obviously there's so much tension between Māori and the Crown ... and that affects my family really directly," he says.
Duffy agrees that the degree of mentorship varies. He spent substantial time working on projects in his community and in Lee's Mount Albert office but says others didn't have the same experience.
"[Ministers] have no time right? Ministers are so busy, I roomed with Simeon Brown's Youth MP and he didn't really see Simeon a lot, if at all," he says.
Duffy sees youth parliament as an opportunity for those interested in politics to get an insight into the system. He says everyone attending this year had a keen interest in advocacy and change-making, but he admits that at times some see their role as more important than it is.
"There's just a lot of politically charged people in one room.
"Putting them all in the same room is great and it gets everyone talking to each other and firing off really good initiatives ... but yeah I guess some of them do think they are a bit more important than they are which is a shame because they probably should be more important and have more of a say," he says.
But if he could change one thing Duffy would raise the age bracket because he thinks 16 is too young.
"Even just move it up one year, 17-19, so there's more first year uni students who have been through high school, who have seen the whole system," he says.
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