A Profile of Kelly Ding, Youth MP

Kelly Ding’s the kind of person who watches Parliament TV for fun.

“I’ve always had an interest in anything to do with public speaking. And then I started watching Parliament TV which is so weird for somebody my age. Something about how passionate they get when they’re speaking intrigued me. I wanted to be able to speak like that,” says Kelly.

She’s also the kind of person who's always on the lookout for new opportunities. Now, she finds herself in the thick of the work around youth empowerment and youth voice.

Serving as Raymond Huo’s Youth MP, 17 year-old Kelly, a Year 13 from Epsom Girls Grammar School, says she came across the role on Facebook.

The aspiring lawyer and coffee lover says her passion for social change led to her sending emails to several MPs for the role. After three rounds of selection, Kelly was told the good news.

“I’m really excited to take on the role with passion and an open mind. I’m ridiculously eager to sit in the House of Representatives. It’s such a unique chance to get a first-hand experience of what Parliament is like and represent the opinions and ideas of my peers,” she says.

Every three years, 120 people from around the country take over Parliament at a two-day event. Youth Parliament 2019 takes its participants through Question Time, Select Committees, debates, and party caucus sessions. This allows Youth MPs to be heard about topics they’re passionate about.

As for the issues she wants to advocate for in Parliament, Kelly says she wants to hear from her community in Epsom.

“For me, personally, I don’t have a particular issue that I am really passionate about. So, I was thinking of doing a survey of my school and other schools to see what youth think the biggest issue in our community is. It’s not my opinion I’m trying to voice at Parliament. It’s just the voice of the youth in my area.”

She says taking part in Youth MP training gave her lots of valuable information and resources.

“I went into it just wanting to learn more about how the government works and how, for example, a Bill is processed. You don’t really get to learn that at school.”

Kelly says one way to improve the lack of youth engagement and knowledge about politics is through education in schools.

“I think schools can easily incorporate civics education into subjects like social studies, for example, by having a mock vote.”

According to voter turnout statistics from the Electoral Commission, nearly 70% of eligible voters aged under 25 years turned out to vote in the 2017 General Election. This makes the demographic’s turnout the second lowest only after 25 to 29-year-olds.

Despite the statistics at the polling booth, Kelly says this doesn’t mean young people don’t care about the world around them.

She uses the example of the School Strike 4 Climate which saw thousands of young people gather around the country to raise awareness about climate change.

“Youth get involved in a demonstrative way, but they don’t really do it in a traditional way that gets recognised formally. It can be difficult to represent youth voice in Parliament for various reasons. But, a major reason I think is because of the generation gap between current politicians and youth today.”

Kelly says the generation gap means politicians have to rely on young people to be active and to voice their opinions.

“Young people that are involved in politics and understand how it all works also have an advantage over those that don’t because they can take the initiative to voice their opinions to relevant authorities and make a difference. Regardless of whether change comes from it, the issue will be heard and attention will be drawn to it.”

Kelly’s passion for youth representation in politics is evident. She volunteers for the Albert-Eden Youth Board. They’re tasked with getting youth in the area engaged with their elected officials. The youth board have plans to put together a political compass for Auckland's local elections this year. The compass will help give insights to each candidate and what they stand for.

“It would just make understanding politics so much easier. Going forward, I think it’s important youth are seen as a positive force for social change who can offer new ways of thinking," says Kelly.

“Something should be done to increase youth involvement in politics.”

By Irra Lee, Youth Press Gallery Member