Porirua City Council votes to back Make It 16 and extend voting rights
All but two Porirua city councillors have voted to support the Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age.
Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.
Pāuatahanui general ward councillor Josh Trlin’s motion at Thursday's Te Puna Kōrero meeting also asked the council to lobby the Government to make changes in time for local elections in 2025. It was voted 9-2 in favour, with Ross Leggett and Mike Duncan against.
The Supreme Court recently ruled the current voting age was unjustified discrimination, on the basis of age, under the Bill of Rights Act, with the Government later proposing to lower the voting age.
“I’m really glad that the majority of my council colleagues put their hand up to support the voting rights of rangatahi in Porirua,” Trlin said. “Porirua has valued the voices of children and young people, and today we’re walking the walk.”
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At the meeting, councillors in favour of the motion said 16-year-olds should be given the right to vote because many already showed the capabilities of an adult.
“We expect so much from people under the age of 18 and over the age of 16,” said councillor Nathan Waddle. “There are all sorts of things we expect them to do from 16 and even younger.”
“The world has changed drastically and I feel in this day and age [the 16-year-olds] are way more mature than myself when we were 16,” said councillor Moze Galo. “[Lowering voting age] would prompt healthy civic habits amongst our rangatahi and acknowledge their contributions to society and our communities.”
But Leggett said there should be a “comprehensive” civics education system driven by central and local governments before any voting age changes.
“[The motion] is really just middle-class feel-good stuff,” he said. “I’ll be open to supporting it if there was a comprehensive package and a strategy about building participation across the board.”
Duncan argued there was little appetite for changing the voting age, as recent polling suggested 80% of voters were against it.
“I think we’ve lost our way as councillors with this decision-making process,” he said. “[The poll] is good enough for me, I’ll go with that.”
But councillor Tracy Johnson “couldn’t disagree more” with Duncan’s comments.
“I find the youth of today some of the most stimulating company I spend time with,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what they do for our country in the future.”
Meanwhile, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau and council chief executive Barbara McKerrow have sent a letter to the Independent Electoral Review Panel saying voting rights should be extended to 16-year-olds.
Changes to the voting age at local body elections would require a legislation change but only needs a 51% majority at Parliament. A supermajority, or 75% of MPs, is needed to change the voting age for general elections.
How they voted:
Ayes (9): Anita Baker, Kylie Wihapi, Izzy Ford, Kathleen Filo, Moze Galo, Geoff Hayward, Josh Trlin, Tracy Johnson, Nathan Waddle
Noes (2): Ross Leggett, Mike Duncan