File photo. Photo: 123RF
The coalition government has formally dumped plans to lower the voting age to 16 for council elections, something considered by the previous Labour government.
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said he wrote to the chairperson of the Justice Committee informing him that the government did not intend to support the Electoral (Lowering Voting Age for Local Elections and Polls) Legislation Bill through further parliamentary stages, and requested that the Committee ended consideration of it.
"Ratepayers and residents expect their local councils to be sticking to core business of efficiently and effectively delivering local infrastructure and services.
"Worrying about how to implement a new voting age regime would be a costly distraction for councils who have enough issues to deal with right now.
He said the coalition government would not entertain the previous government's voting age proposal and was withdrawing the bill from any further consideration.
"The previous Government proposed lowering of the voting age to 16 but could not provide the public with any convincing reason why. Their plans were without logic and we will not be progressing them."
National's withdrawal comes as no surprise after the party made it clear they would not be supporting any plans to lower the voting age while they were still in opposition.
This was despite the Supreme Court declaring that the voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act.