Starting shot for Youth Parliament 2016 tenure

22 January 2016

From 25 January 2016, 138 young New Zealanders are having an exciting six months ahead – their Youth Parliament 2016 tenure. 121 Youth Members of Parliament (Youth MPs) and 17 Youth Press Gallery members will hold office until 25 July 2016, with the first highlight being extensive tenure training held across the country in January and February.

During tenure, Youth MPs will engage in different activities, which may include:

  • attending a local event with their MP
  • providing a speech to their school about the importance of enrolling and voting
  • using Survey Monkey to canvas their constituents’ views on their mock Select Committee topic

  • working with other local Youth MPs and local charities/organisations on a joint project.

Taking over Parliament

Completing the experience as a Youth MP will occur on 19 and 20 July 2016. Spending two days at Parliament will give the participants the opportunity to debate legislation, sit on mock Select Committees, ask questions of Ministers and bring their peer group’s views to the heart of New Zealand’s democracy.

Youth Press Gallery members will report about the Youth MPs’ activities in traditional and online media.

For both it is a wonderful opportunity to engage in a civic process and for MPs and other decision-makers to learn the views of young people.

Get to know the participants in Youth Parliament 2016

Everyone who would like to find out more about the 2016 participants should have a look at the short biographies of the Youth MPs on the Youth Parliament page. There you will also find a list of the Youth MPs, their MP and the Youth Press Gallery members as well as further information about Youth Parliament 2016.