The many complex truths within the ‘censoring' of youth parliament
The tri-annual return of youth parliament this week was not without its controversies. 123 youth MPs and 20 youth press gallery members descended on parliament for three days of training and debates, and while many of these teens gave great speeches in the House, the attention has been on what they supposedly haven't been allowed to say.
Youth parliament – despite what its name may suggest – is a non-partisan learning experience for young people who want to be politically engaged. And if you talked to these teens, you'd realise many of them already are – they're in advocacy groups, are dedicated posters to certain Reddit forums, already have fully-fledged political leanings they don't want to budge on and also have an MP whispering politicking tricks in their ears.
It was a truly divided parliament this week: with one side desperately telling the media they've been censored, and the other desperately telling the media they haven't. As always, when it comes to politics, the truth is more nuanced than just one position.
Truth #1: Claims of censorship haven't been totally genuine. It's more accurate to say that the ministry of youth development made suggestions to speeches, which the youth MPs were allowed to accept or deny, and these rules were also in place for the 2022 youth parliament. Yeah, it sounds silly, but this is a non-partisan event and the youth MPs know this, and at the end of the day, everyone still spoke their piece.
Truth #2: Youth MPs are not protected by parliamentary privileges – if they defame a minister, they can be taken to court.
Truth #3: Those crying wolf about censorship were mostly aligned with Make It 16, Gen-Z Aotearoa and SchoolStrike4Climate. Make It 16 and SchoolStrike4Climate have both described themselves as 'non-partisan', though their values tend to align with left-leaning politics, specifically those you might find within the Green Party kaupapa.
Truth #4: Those teens pulled a pretty bloody good PR stunt, especially from a political campaigning group which hasn't yet been able to have much sway on voting age policy, and another which has been largely operating under the radar for the last few years while the government abandons its climate targets.
Truth #5: NZ First and Act youth MPs did have a chance to take back the narrative, but they bungled their press conference by letting their progressive peers hijack it.
Truth #6: There are plenty of 16-year-olds who would feel intimidated by an authoritative figure – especially a government official – making suggestions about their work. The ministry should have been clearer about its expectations.
Truth #7: In a way, some of the progressive party-aligned kids are almost guilty of censorship themselves, having attempted a walkout during a speech from Winston Peters' youth MP, and trying to shut up Karen Chhour's youth MP by raising multiple points of order during his speech. This is where the censorship argument gets tricky, you see – wouldn't the likes of the Free Speech Union and David Seymour argue that that is a form of suppressing speech?
Truth #8: There are far more racist and controversial things said on a near-weekly basis in this House than anything these youth MPs have said.
Truth #9: Unfortunately in life, you have to listen to opinions you don't want to listen to. Unfortunately as a politician, you do this basically every day, and can't always run away from it.
Truth #10: The 'real' politicians also have ministry officials and press secretaries begging them not to say something that will get them, their party or their agency in trouble.
Truth #11: There were concerns about censorship among some of the youth press gallery members, too, though the ministry has described the checking-over of these stories as 'moderating' rather than editing.
Truth #12: This does lead into an editorial grey area, because while the youth press gallery is supposed to operate under the same expectations as the youth MPs, having a ministry shape the story up to their standard, and then encouraging budding reporters to pitch these stories to independent outlets, is kind-of just like sending out a government press release.
Truth #13: But this also teaches you some valuable lessons in journalism: how to recognise spin, how to deal with an editor you don't agree with and what to expect when an entity doesn't want you to reveal the worst of them.
Truth #14: And, at the end of the day, you go into journalism to be a reporter, not an activist. One youth gallery reporter held the tino rangatiratanga flag over the bannister, others gave their peers standing ovations – the reality of being in the press gallery is that you are the observer, not the demonstrator. And everyone in that House deserves an equal level of scrutiny.
Truth #15: All the drama that has gone down this week only proves that youth parliament has done its job: teaching these kids how to be effective politicians – and in the modern era, this often looks a lot like controlling the media narrative.
Truth #16: It also suggests the future of our political landscape looks like more publicity stunts, and less cross-party communication, which is a shame.
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