Youth Parliament or Green Party dress rehearsal?
Lowering the voting age would kill the right
This week, the annual Youth Parliament returned to Wellington, and with it came a renewed push to lower the voting age to 16. It’s no surprise this idea is being floated again, and it's almost guaranteed that Labour and the Greens will back it. Why wouldn’t they? Sixteen-year-olds are still firmly under the influence of New Zealand’s highly politicised schooling system, where left-wing ideology is not only common but embedded into everyday teaching and forced down our kids throats.
At that age, kids' brains are like sponges. They soak up whatever they’re told, whether it’s factually correct, blatantly wrong, or simply the personal opinions of their ideologically driven teachers. There’s no counterbalance, no room for genuine debate. The classroom has become an echo chamber for progressive talking points.
Let me be honest, at 16, I wasn’t remotely interested in politics - I was too busy chasing girls, playing rugby on the weekends, and knocking back 440ml cans of 8% Woodstocks until I fell into a coma. I remember when my mates finally turned 18 and could vote, a lot of them ticked the Green box just because they wanted cannabis legalised. That alone proves the point, 16 is far too young to be making decisions that shape the future of a country.
If you happened to watch the Youth MPs this week, you’d know exactly what this agenda looks like in action. Many of them dressed like actual Green Party MPs, most wearing flashy Māori jewellery as political statements, not cultural respect. One of the whitest kids there was decked out with the biggest pounamu they could find at the local souvenir shop. It was like they Googled: “How to dress like a Green MP” before they hit Parliament.
Lowering the voting age would tip the scales even further left. It’s a cynical strategy to grow the Labour and Green base by handing votes to a demographic that’s been force-fed their worldview. While it might work for those parties, it would be nothing short of suicidal for the political right in New Zealand.
Let kids be kids. Let them finish school, get out into the real world, work a job, pay taxes, and then decide how the country should be run. Until then, this push to lower the voting age is nothing more than a desperate play for votes by parties who rely on ideology over reality.
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Some of this year’s Youth MPs are kicking up a fuss after being asked to tone down their Government criticism, claiming censorship and suppression.