Youth Parliament
Every three years, around 140 young New Zealanders experience Parliament as Youth MPs and Youth Press Gallery members.
Youth Parliament 2025
Find out more about the previous Youth Parliament programmes below, including what happened at the two-day event, and what Youth MPs did during their tenure.
Previous Youth Parliament Programmes
About Youth Parliament
Youth Parliament is an opportunity for young New Zealanders to learn first-hand about Aotearoa New Zealand’s democracy and to influence decision making.
Youth Parliament is a non-partisan process which was first held in 1994 to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the lowering of the voting age to 18. The first Youth Parliament was a short event that involved young people coming to Parliament for an education day.
Due to the success of the first event, in 1995 Cabinet invited the then Minister of Youth Affairs to hold a Youth Parliament every Parliamentary term, to:
- replicate the Parliamentary process
- involve as many young people as possible (before and after the event)
- maximise the educational opportunities of the event
- enhance Parliamentary public relations
- make known the views expressed to appropriate policy agencies.
A tenure programme has been in place for Youth MPs since Youth Parliament 2010, to make it more than an event. The eleventh Youth Parliament involved a four-month programme from Monday 28 April to Friday 28 August 2025 and a two-day event on Tuesday 01 and Wednesday 02 July 2025 in the Parliamentary precinct in Wellington. Orientation took place on Monday 30 June 2025.