Be Heard – The voices of the Youth MPs

During the build up to the two days at Parliament, over half of the Youth MPs surveyed other young people to gain their opinions on their mock Select Committee topic and/or the mock Bill topic and/or the Youth MP’s General Debate speech topic.

While at Youth Parliament 2016, our 121 Youth MPs debated a mock Bill in the House and participated in select committee discussions. The public were able to observe the Youth MPs debate the mock Bill and present their select committee reports from the public galleries.

We invited the public to submit their views on the 2016 select committee topics.  Find out what the select committees were and review the ten select committee reports below.

Do you want to be involved? There’s how:

Be Heard - Young people in parliament

Pictured: William Muir chairs the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee. From Right to left, the Youth MPs are: Rose McLeod, Noella Niyonzima, Setareh Brown, Connor McCormick, Nathan Wilson, Julia Wiener, William Muir, Emma Tompkins (obscured), Hamish Duncan, James Busch, Dharma Bratley and Kelly Snitely.

Topics investigated by Youth Parliament 2016

Below are the ten Select Committee topics and elected Chairs elected by youth members.

The ten Select Committee topics Youth MPs were debated and discussed.

Youth MPs advised in their post experience survey that over 56% of them surveyed other youth on their Select Committee topic. Members of the public were also invited to make a written submission in June 2016.

Each Select Committee sat in Parliament, considered a background paper and heard several oral submissions.

Select Committee

Select Committee Topic Chairperson 
Education and Science

Should schools be required to be more accessible to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex (LGBTI) community (for example, in terms of school culture and facilities?)

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Charlie Wang

Charlie Wang
Commerce

How could New Zealand’s information technology infrastructure be developed to support the wider “Digital Economy”?

Download  the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Karan Kalsi

Karan Kalsi
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Where should New Zealand’s international obligations lie – the Pacific or wider afield?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

William Muir

William Muir
Health

How can we better deal with mental health issues and suicide prevention in schools?

Download the background papers on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Krystal Wright

Krystal Wright
Justice and Electoral

Should we decriminalise recreational drugs?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the public submission paper we received

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Hannah Mongiatti

Hannah Mongiatti
Local Government and Environment

How much is our retail industry doing to improve New Zealand’s impact on the environment – is regulation on the cost and usage of plastic bags required?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Nina Santos

Nina Santos
Māori Affairs

Should te reo Māori be compulsory in primary and secondary schools?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Kii Winston Small

Kii Winston Small
Primary Production

What must primary industries do to capitalise further on our reputation as a producer of high-quality, safe and trusted foodstuffs to the world?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Ben Henderson

Ben Henderson
Social Services

What can be done to ensure that children of teen parents have good outcomes?

Download the background paper on this topic 

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Ruby Bridge

Ruby Bridge
Transport and Industrial Relations

What are the barriers to young people entering employment across New Zealand workplaces and how can these be addressed?

Download the background paper on this topic

Download the report from the inquiry into this topic

Teresa Lee

Teresa Lee

Find out which Youth MP is allocated to which select committee.

Information on Youth Parliament 2016 can be found on the MYD website

©Ministry of Youth Development