Epsom’s Youth MP puts the children first

By Aleksandra Bogdanova, Youth Press Gallery, Youth Parliament 2025

Photo Caption: Photo: Sylvie Macfarlane/Supplied

Macfarlane lives and breathes community engagement, coming from a tight-knit rural community, she says compassion, resilience, and the importance of giving back was instilled in her from an early age.

From being her school’s Deputy Head Girl, to being a Youth Ambassador and Advocate for Save the Children NZ, to being nominated for the Girlboss Awards, to playing piano for over 11 years. It seems like Sylvie has done it all.

She highlighted her time volunteering with Save the Children NZ as one of her more treasured experiences in community engagement.

Her journey started in 2023 with being a Youth Advocate, then taking on a role of Youth Ambassador in 2024. This role gave her the opportunity to represent New Zealand internationally for the Born into the Climate Crisis 2 report.

Additionally, she worked adjacent to key parliamentary figures like Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and Ricardo Menéndez March on the Youth Climate Statement handover. Reflecting on that she says, “I think it’s really important for Aotearoa to make sure that as an island nation we are always finding ways to improve our response in mitigating and adapting to climate change to help our future generations.”

Behind all her action, she emphasises that at the crux of her work, her focus is on rangatahi / young people.

With Save the Children, she led a stall at the Children’s Markets held across the North Shore, Auckland Central, and Southern Auckland. These held polling stalls which allowed the kids there to have their say on issues relevant to them across Aotearoa New Zealand, such as the Healthy Schools Lunch Programme.

Vira Paky, the Youth Engagement Co-ordinator for Save the Children NZ praised Macfarlane for her contributions, saying the engagements she organised “played a critical role in raising awareness of the pressing issues faced by tamariki and rangatahi”.

Events like Children’s Market encourage close interaction, which is crucial to ensuring younger voices are heard in today’s politics, “it’s awesome to see that direct impact,” Macfarlane says.  A sentiment she plans to carry over into Youth Parliament.

This year, Macfarlane  is one of ten assigned to a Parliamentary Working group tasked with improving the education and employment opportunities of whaikaha / disabled Kiwis. Living with chronic illness herself, she is committed to taking this task head on.

When it comes to addressing topics surrounding disability, Aotearoa New Zealand is not making progress fast enough, she says. Instead, it’s being treated as an afterthought not only for urban Kiwis, but those living rurally too.  

“The job cuts for disabled care sector is unfortunate for those youth who are need further support, particularly where this access is already incredible limited, and even more difficult for those who are living in rural areas.”

But hope is not lost, she says, “If our communities are able to recognise our disabled learners’ desire to achieve, then we as a collective society can amplify the voices of our whaikaha community to succeed in an equal field.”

 In an ideal world, Macfarlane  hopes for a “locally-driven cross-agency support network” that will connect youth with appropriate support; a concept, she says, that is inspired by successful programmes led by He Poutama Rangatahi that saw better access to pastoral care and smoother transitions into further education and employment.

To encourage Aotearoa New Zealand towards this progress, she’s planning to team up with secondary schools across the Tamaki Makaurau region to facilitate workshops focused on tackling issues effecting the education of disabled learners.

Her MP, Belich has full confidence in Sylvie’s abilities to incite change she strives for through Youth Parliament.

“Sylvie is deeply engaged in her community and with the current issues facing New Zealand. She was selected by an independent panel put together by me who was impressed by her views and ideas around improving New Zealand's public health system. She has a bright future ahead of her and I am privileged to have her as my youth MP for 2025,” Belich says.

Macfarlane has the opportunity to voice the concerns of Aotearoa New Zealand’s rangatahi in this year’s Youth Parliament General Debate. With an extensive list of volunteering experience and a community confident in her to represent them well, she’s walking into The Chamber with her head held high.