Youth parliament > Press gallery > Youth MPs struggle to be coherent by John Hartevelt

Youth MPs struggle to be coherent by John Hartevelt

New Zealand youths have been trying out their political stripes this week at Parliament.

By John Hartevelt

Chlamydia is not a flower; alcohol provides "considerable recreational benefits" and New Zealand needs a flat tax at a rate of 18c in the dollar.

Those were some the pearls of wisdom floated on the first sitting day of Youth Parliament, in Wellington on Monday.

The event is into its fifth edition this year. It sees 121 school-aged politicos representing their adult counterparts in a four-day mock sitting of Parliament. The youth MPs get to ask questions of the real ministers; meet for select committee inquiries and vote on their own bill.

This year's event, which is the biggest yet, was officially opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark on Monday. It culminates today with a vote on a bill designed to address climate change. The bill proposes the establishment of household carbon accounts and tax credits for people who cut their carbon emissions.

It all sounds very grown up and high-falutin'. And it is. The bill reads like any bill that would go before Parliament. The standing orders apply while Parliament is in session (several MPs were reprimanded for their outbursts on Monday), and the questions to ministers were phrased in proper parliamentary language. But all that formality has come at a cost for some of the young political aspirants.

Youth MP for the Wigram electorate Alicia Gainsford says many of the MPs have been frustrated that their questions were changed to suit the ministers' wishes.

"They were changed, basically, from what we wrote in, to what they wanted us to say," Gainsford said.

"And if you didn't ask the question, you weren't able to pose a supplementary question."

Jonathon Rowe, sitting in Ilam MP Gerry Brownlee's seat, agreed proceedings had been somewhat stifled by the control of the Ministry of Youth Affairs. Question time was "a bit of a disappointment," he said.

"It had sort of been a bit cooked by the ministry. They'd altered all of our questions. And the supplementary questions -- some of those were already written for people. So it was basically sort of a show."

More than two hours were set aside for question time but it was all over in about half an hour. Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson said at the completion of the last of the 23 questions that the speed was a reflection of the quality of the questions. Quite -- it was all scripted to perfection.

Rowe was one who broke the mould and asked his own supplementary question on interest rates to Finance Minister Michael Cullen.

Few get anything past the wily Cullen, however, and Rowe was quick to admit he was wrong-footed by the minister's retort.

"I thank Dr Cullen for so humorously and directly putting me in my place," he said in the House.

Youth Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the event had given young people as much scope for participation as possible. The youth MPs had a strong hand in the selection of topics and have been encouraged to voice their opinions as much as possible over the four days.

"We're trying to give everyone the best possible experience of Parliament. And what we can expect, over time, is the opportunity for questions to ministers and free-flowing general debate to evolve."

Mahuta promised "more free-flowing supplementary questions and a more fluid general debate in future".

Asked about claims that questions were being substantively recast, Mahuta said that this was only to be expected.

"To some extent that does mirror what happens at Parliament. If your question isn't framed in a particular way, the clerk's office does change it towards the parliamentary style."

There were many issues the youth MPs wanted to discuss and a lot of them overlapped.

"You've got to be mindful that there are a whole lot of questions, so you are going to have to try and condense the questions -- a whole lot of similar issues into one or two questions."

And for all that they complained about the strictures of Parliament, the youth MPs were grateful for the regard they were given by ministers. According to Mahuta, the presence of all but Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was unprecedented.

The speed at which question time proceeded meant the script ran out early on, however. The general debate, which followed question time, gradually dissolved into a free-for-all on any number of issues, many of which had nothing at all to do with young people in particular. Rowe delivered an impromptu speech on terrorism. "They were trying to encourage us to focus on youth issues, but terrorism affects everyone and we're the leaders of tomorrow so we're going to have to deal with it."

While Rowe's was a worthy effort, the debate on other issues was, at times, woeful and confused. As the MPs got their tails up, wild assertions began sweeping the chamber. The MPs got carried away in an argument over Maori scholarships and special privileges in tertiary education -- an issue long since put to bed in the mainstream media.

The organic emergence of an argument about racial privilege in tertiary education was, nonetheless, telling. This was a subject entirely of the MPs' own making, unchecked by the beady eyes of any of the army of ministry officials charging around at the event.

The youth MPs were told that on certain university courses, if you had a Maori background and you could prove it, then one of 10 places would be made available for you, even if your grades were not as high as others.

"I think it should be fair for everyone. There's always going to be scholarships in all different groups, that's just the way it is, and that's fine. But when you're discriminating on the basis of grades, it's not fair," Gainsford said.

The impression among some of the youth MPs seemed to be that the Maori scholarships were a function of government policy. However, as a spokeswoman for the Tertiary Education Commission confirmed, those offered operated autonomously of the Government.

Mahuta is cautious about damning the young protagonists.

"Parliament is a place for robust debate, and as long as we ensure that the protocols of Parliament are observed, we can respect differing opinions.

"On the issue of Maori scholarships, to some extent, if we can provide information to youth MPs on issues that they are particularly interested in so they can inform the contribution of their debate by fact and not perception, that will lift the quality of the debate."

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