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:

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The Ministry of Youth Development offers ways to get involved outside of Youth Parliament 2016, find out more about our current other opportunities for young people.

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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