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Youth parliament > Press gallery > Youth Parliament 2007 summary by Sarah Harvey
Youth Parliament 2007 summary by Sarah Harvey
After four days of strolling along the red, green and gold carpet of New Zealand’s parliament, opening the rimu doors, staring down at the oversized green leather chairs of the debating chamber and peeking through open office doors – I can safely say the secrets of parliament remain very much intact.
 By Sarah Harvey
Parliament houses 121 MPs, and thousands of support staff. This week,
for Youth Parliament 2007, it has housed 121 youth MPs, 10 youth press
gallery members, 24 international observers and thousands of support
staff.
Yet, the fabled pool, gymnasium and movie theatre remain a mystery,
burly security guards protect the secrets of the Beehive and Parliament
House.
The Youth MPs, however, quickly realised the secrets of sitting in the
green chairs of our country’s leaders, becoming miniature models of
their elder counterparts.
Yesterday, in the debating chamber there were all the signs of high
school pupils becoming the new generation of parliamentarians as they
debated the household response to climate change bill.
There were the eccentrics. The bright blue suit, the shock of red hair,
and the kilt wearer. The obnoxious ones, those who could not let a
single speech pass without a comment and the James Sleep who was shown
a yellow card for raising the same point of order three times.
The passionate ones who despite their political affiliations stood true to how they personally felt.
Zoe Donald, the daughter of the late Rod Donald, Green Party co-leader,
spoke emotionally about the same issues that impassioned her father.
Zoe (14), from Christchurch, called for New Zealanders to buy New
Zealand made and called the Youth Parliament bill “inappropriate and
ineffective’’.
A more forceful youth MP called the bill “like a cattle beast. A
point here and a point there and a lot of bull in the middle’’.
Youth Parliament is often derided as false and worthless. A
particularly angry youth MP Katherine Steel said the whole event had
been “manipulated” and for the first time in the history of the chamber
used an expletive.
“The government is f***ing with our futures,’’ she said, before being sent out for five minutes by the speaker.
Another bored youth MP, started playing his harmonica into a microphone to drown out the speech of another.
Just an ordinary day in the chamber, after all.
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