Despite one or two controversies, Youth Parliament 2022 will be best remembered by its participants for invaluable firsthand experience of parliamentary process and questioning government.
Sure, their several seconds of being maskless for a photo with Jacinda Ardern prompted outrage in certain quarters of the media, leaving some of them feeling burned, but the 120 Youth MPs and their press gallery counterparts got much out of their interactions in Parliament, including those with the prime minister.
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Youth MP Simon Xiao asks a question during Question Time at the 2022 Youth Parliament. Photo: New Zealand Youth Parliament/The Office of the Clerk
Connecting with fellow young people from across the country and discussing the big issues of their generation is what Youth Parliament has always been about for Youth MPs. While some Youth MPs were clearly singing from the song sheet of the real MP who had selected them for the event, most of them spoke from the heart and helped inject a sense of urgency about issues such as mental health, racism, poverty, the voting age and the state of the country’s democracy.
On the mic
It’s always difficult going first. So you had to feel for Youth MP Simon Xiao, who got to ask the very first question in Question Time, one of the first things in the chamber for Youth Parliament 2022. His question was to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, asking if she stood by all her decisions.
“For sure, I was nervous, but once I got the flow going I was fine,” he said afterwards.
Xiao, whose corresponding MP in the national parliament is Chris Penk, went through drafts of the question in the weeks leading up to the sitting, also developing a road map of supplementary question options depending on how the prime minister answered the first question. His follow-up questions asked her what would be done to prevent foreign political interference ahead of the 2023 election, and about whether indirect interference had affected New Zealand’s democratic system and integrity.
“There have been cases in the past where there have been large sums of political donations from people with close ties to foreign governments, and in turn there have been policy that, I feel, is a lot more lenient towards those parties,” he told The House.
In response to his question, the prime minister said the government in 2019 had “made changes around electoral donations and placed a limit on the size or the quantum of electoral donations from those who may be residing offshore. We have also explicitly sought for additional work to be done in this area to ensure that we keep pace with any foreign influence we may see in the future”.
“To date, our national security agencies do not believe that we have been the victims of direct foreign interference in our elections, but we must make sure that our systems are fit for purpose. That’s why, with the current electoral law reform review, we have asked the independent panel doing that review to keep in mind issues of foreign interference in elections,” Ardern said.
Youth MP Tyissa Hape Photo: Phil Smith
Xiao later admitted it wasn’t realistic to expect a detailed plan from the Prime Minister off the top of her head.
“I am slightly disappointed that some of the specifics of the question wasn’t addressed, but overall I did appreciate her direction that she took,” he said.
Another Youth MP involved in Question Time was Tyissa Hape of Northland who was representing Willow-Jean Prime. She had a question for Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson.
“My question was about sports and recreation, and what the government would do to make sporting events and all that sort of stuff more available for youth around New Zealand. But I think he very much answered that.
“It was very nerve-wracking. I’m not used to speaking in front of all these people, but it was cool,” she explained.
Press Gallery
It wasn’t just Youth MPs in the thick of the action in YP 22. Covering the three-day event was the Youth Press Gallery, including Christina Huang.
“I think this year the MPs have been really spirited. And knowing that everyone is kind of around 16 and 17, it’s really inspiring to see, considering that when I was 16 or 17 I didn’t do anything like this. So it’s really cool to see everyone get out and represent their communities,” she said.
“I’m almost getting imposter syndrome from this, seeing everyone doing amazing things for their community and really getting really involved in politics from such a young age, when a lot of people don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Youth Press Gallery at Youth Parliament 2022 Photo: New Zealand Parliament/The Office of the Clerk
Ardern gave a press conference specifically for the Youth Press Gallery. Young journo Andre Fa’aoso said he was in his element.
“I was a lot more comfortable than I thought I was going to be, for sure. But the moment that she walked down those almighty steps in the theatrette, I was like ‘right, this is my time, this is the time to ask the questions and get the answers I want’.
"For all of us in the press gallery it was like (clicks fingers) 'journalism moment’: we asked the questions, we were confident, we were concise, and in return we got that from the prime minister. And I think the Press Gallery ought to be very jealous of the responses that we got because they were very good and probably the best that I've seen from the prime minister.”
However this was a closed door presser and unfortunately none of the PM’s responses were allowed to be used in the Youth Press Gallery’s stories.
Insides
Some who participated in Youth Parliament 2022 like Aorangi Hetaraka, representing Labour MP Emily Henderson, got involved in the first place in order to “get an insight of the mahi that an MP in Aotearoa does”, but also to help highlight the often unheard voices of their own immediate communities.
She spoke about the experiences of Māori in the mental health system, and the lack of access to mental health services compared to that for non-Māori. The YP 22 experience was beneficial on this front.
“It’s been really good, definitely out of my comfort zone. But it’s so cool to meet like-minded people and make good relationships with other youth from around New Zealand,” Hetaraka said, echoing the sentiments of many Youth MPs.
“I’m grateful to be here with so many MPs and so many different perspectives,” Xiao explained.
“I think especially amongst people my age in the age of social media there’s a tendency to shut down different perspectives that you might not agree with. But here at Youth Parliament we stand for the opposite of that. We try and voice as many opinions as we have. Because only through the voicing of such opinions can we better find the truth and better make decisions for the country.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responds to a Youth MP during Question Time, Youth Parliament 2022. Photo: New Zealand Parliament/The Office of the Clerk
Some critics said that tolerance for opposing views was lacking among the dozen or so Youth MPs who staged a walkout from the general debate in protest at Youth MP Matthew Fisken when he spoke in the general debate. Fisken, who was representing ACT MP Nicole McKee, spoke about the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms and criticised the government’s gun buyback scheme that was initiated after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack. But different views mean different responses, so in the absence of opportunity for rebuttal in the tight schedule of YP 22, perhaps the MPs’ walkout was the best way of expressing their opposition.
The wider media paid little attention to the compelling speeches and arguments of Youth MPs or the event itself, except where a few reporters caught a whiff of controversy on social media. But this was all instructive for the Youth MPs who got to learn firsthand about being at the centre of a lame media 'beat-up'.
Overall, as Andre Fa’aoso put it, the benefits of being involved this week were significant.
“Christina was talking about imposter syndrome. Well I can tell you, that’s been an overwhelming sense for me while being here. But that shouldn’t discourage anyone in the ongoing Youth parliaments to come here and just give it a go, because this is an opportunity that only just over a thousand rangitahi have had over the past 30 years, and its one that I will have with me for the rest of my life.”