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Youth parliament > Press gallery > Article on Question Time at Youth Parliament 2007 by Storme Sen
Article on Question Time at Youth Parliament 2007 by Storme Sen
The Question Time at Youth Parliament 2007 was buzzing with an atmosphere of blatant, disarming inquisitiveness befitting youth.
 By Storme Sen
One of the many processes developed by the House of Parliament to
question the performance of any of its members or the entire
government, at Youth Parliament Question Time was altered to enable the
Youth Parliamentarians to ask practically any question of the Ministers
of the departments concerned.
The Youth Parliamentarians did justice to their positions, asking
precise, revealing questions which displayed a level of intelligence
and maturity befitting their electorate MPs.
Among the enquiries asked of various Ministers was a question directed
at the Minister of Health, asking what the government will ‘put in
place to prevent the manufacture, distribution and importation of party
pills should they become a class C1 drug’, put forward by Youth
Parliamentarian Jeffrey Carroll.
To which, the Minister of Health Pete Hodgson replied that Party Pills
are expected to become a class C1 drug by the end of this year and that
when legislations take force there will be campaigns to notify the
public of the change in status of the drug.
The Minister also added that he would “be surprised if BZP is considered either safe or efficacious” by Med Safe.
Party Pills are no doubt an issue of concern predominantly affecting
the youth, however, questions from a wide range of areas that affect
citizens of all ages were asked as well.
The topics varied from banning smoking advertisements, increased
government funding for sports and the ways in which the government aims
to protect its people from epidemics of diseases.
Nicholas Mitchell began the session with a controversial, poignant
topic that has recently come to light. Levelly gazing at the Minister
of Finance he asked, “what, if anything, is the government doing to
reduce speculation in the housing market, which is preventing young New
Zealanders from buying a home?”
The Hon. Dr Michael Cullen answered by explaining the ways in which the
new Kiwi Saver scheme will help this issue and the benefits of Kiwi
Saver, one being that it reduces the household’s disposable income. In
fact, Dr. Cullen answered the questions put to him so well that one
Youth MP said, “I would like to thank the Hon. Dr. Cullen for putting
me in my place.”
The questions asked by the Youth Parliamentarians touched upon major issues in our country.
The only disappointment in the highly interesting session was that the
Ministers were given the questions in advance and hence had ample time
to prepare answers which suited their needs, one has to wonder what the
answers would have been had they been impromptu.
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