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Youth parliament > Press gallery > General Debate article by Kim de Leijer
General Debate article by Kim de Leijer
Voices rose and order was called during a fiery session in the Youth Parliament chamber during this year’s Youth Parliament.
 By Kim de Leijer
The 121 Youth MPs from around New Zealand met in the parliament chamber
to debate about any topic of interest. Topics ranged from binge
drinking to the young driving age to the importance of inflation and
the house market.
Youth MP Ed Brownlee who was chosen by MP Dr Jonathan Coleman started a
hot debate when he made reference to Hon Phil Goff “slithering” to
Palestine to “fondle” a terrorist.
This continued with Hon Bill English’s Youth MP Daniel Luoni calling
the government a “hypocrite” with regards to youth voting. He was
forced to withdraw and apologise for his comment.
Two Christchurch Youth MPs also made their presence known during the general debate.
Andreas Triandafilidis, Youth MP for Darren Hughes, spoke passionately
about capital gains tax. He said the current tax system was complicated
and the lack of a capital gains tax was a problem for the country. “The
current system is inequitable and favours higher income earners.”
His fellow Christchurch Youth MP Jason Larsen who was chosen by MP
Nathan Guy raised the issue of the “brain drain”. He said educated
young people were leaving the country to work overseas for better
money. “Approximately 700 people leave New Zealand every week for Great
Britain and America for greater rewards. This is leaving us with a
shortage.”
He said the shortage of qualified New Zealand workers meant we were increasingly looking overseas for trained professionals.
Prior to the general debate the Youth MPs had question time with
several ministers including Michael Cullen, Darren Hughes, Phil Goff
and Trevor Mallard.
The ministers faced questions from a range of topics including human rights, housing and the importance of Youth Parliament.
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