Mana to campaign for Vote 16
Posted on October 10, 2011 by admin in Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti, Press Releases, Sue BradfordMana to campaign for Vote 16
MANA wants 16 & 17 year olds to have the vote says Social Wellbeing spokesperson Sue Bradford.
“It is time we allowed our rangatahi to have a say in what sort of country they will inherit,” she says.
“As a nation we are very keen to find fault with our young people, but slow to recognise their contribution and to give them the opportunity to participate in the decisions that determine their future.”
Ms Bradford says that the new voting age should be introduced alongside measures to include civics education as part of the core education curriculum.
“We want to see the school curriculum include education about the political conventions, mechanisms and underpinnings of central and local government and the legal system including Te Tiriti of Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o Nga Rangatiratanga o Niu Tireni.
“The number of young people enrolling to vote has dropped over 10 percent since 2008and sits at only 72 percent.
“Young people are sending us a message that they feel excluded from the rest of society and we urgently need to do something about this.”
“I developed a Members Bill ‘Civics Education and Voting Age Bill’ in June 2007 but was prevented from putting it into the parliamentary ballot by the Green Party who thought the idea of young people voting was too radical.”
“MANA takes the hopes and dreams of our rangatahi seriously and we think the combination of lowering the voting age and providing education about how the system works will help demonstrate that.”
Mana Rangatahi Ikaroa-Rawhiti representative, Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti, aged 17, is delighted to be supporting Mana’s Vote 16 campaign.
“Our rangatahi are contributing to an economy that affects them. They should have the right to vote for somebody who expresses their interests.”
Spokespeople for this release:
Sue Bradford – Mana Waitakere candidate, Social Wellbeing spokesperson – 027 2434239
Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti – Mana Rangatahi rep – 021 177 4601 (English & TeReo)
Madalene Frost says:
Post Author October 12, 2011 at 5:30 pmAt a time when you can marry at 16, and have children, with no effective preparation by way of national school based family life education, it beggars belief that we don’t trust these same Rangatahi to vote!
We should be encouraging young people to exercise their civic duty by voting, as part of the democratic process. To this end we should be ensuring that civics education is provided for them at all levels before they leave school, and in the same way we should be providing them with child development and family life education while they are still within the school fold, to fulfill their civic responsibility to bring up their children in a safe and enriching environment.
But maybe these ideals don’t fit into the ruling elite’s game plan? I can understand why the last thing they may want is informed voters, but surely they want effective and successful parents? Hopefully Mana will support the reinstatement of a ministry for children, so that the rights of Rangitahi for life skills education can be promoted – not just national standards in the 3 Rs to keep the bosses happy!
Aotearoa New Zealand was once the best place (subjectively) in the world to bring up children, with the fourth highest standard (objectively) of children’s well being. Now many poor children live in third world conditions somewhere near the bottom of the list of OECD countries. Successive mainstream party governments have overseen this abysmal decline. Shame on them!
Go Mana!