A new wave of teenagers are hoping for seats on their local councils.
There is a new wave of budding teenage politicians, hoping to bring a fresh voice to town halls around the country, writes Alanah Eriksen.
The power of Kiwi teenagers is in the air.
Last Friday, thousands took to the streets, making their voices heard about the climate crisis.
And there is a new wave of budding teenage politicians, hoping to bring a fresh voice to town halls around the country.
Read more
• Teen barber Stacey Rose unintentionally elected to Bay of Plenty Regional Council
• 'Be confident': Other young councillors' advice to Stacey Rose
A Weekend Herald survey of seven teenagers standing for their local councils showed social and environmental issues were important policies for the youngsters.
All are out campaigning ahead of public voting ending next Saturday. One of the candidates, Stacey Rose, 19, has already been elected to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council making him the youngest person elected in its history.
As one of only five candidates who put their names forward for the five seats in the Tauranga constituency, at 9am, the day election nominations closed, the barber threw his hat into the ring and by 2pm he was a councillor.
Hayley Wain was 18 when she was elected to the Wellington City Council in 2004, while Nick Leggett and Bronwyn Kropp were 19 when they were elected to Porirua City Council. Leggett, first elected in 1998, went on to become mayor of the city in 2010.
Ryan Jones was 19 when he was elected to Dunedin's West Harbour Community Board in 2016. He is stepping down after three years as the youngest community board representative in New Zealand.
A Local Government New Zealand analysis of elected members shows that since 1998, an average of 5.2 per cent were aged under 40. It was 6 per cent at the last election in 2016.
About 83 per cent were 51 years or older - the second-highest since surveys began in
1998.
When it came to gender, the number of women had grown from 25 per cent in 1989 to 38 per cent. The highest proportion was in Auckland's local boards.
The four largest ethnic groups were European (89.8 per cent), Māori (10.1 per cent), Pacifica (2.1 per cent) and Asian (1.4 per cent).
Standing for the Gisborne ward, Gisborne District Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
I was born in England but raised in Tairāwhiti since I was 5 so I call Gisborne my home.
I am a passionate, young candidate. The biggest passion I have is for my community, gained through my love for volunteering.
I have been volunteering since age 6, with many local and national organisations. I am a three-time recipient of the Gisborne Volunteer Centre Youth Volunteer Award, a 2017 Kiwibank Local Hero recipient and was nominated for the University of Auckland's Young New Zealander of the Year.
I would be working this year, but I broke my leg in January and have had three surgeries to put metal plates, pins and screws in my leg so am still undergoing physio and strengthening programmes.
What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
Our rangatahi are the future of Tairāwhiti. It is important their voices are heard at the council table to ensure the future we are creating is fit for them and future generations.
My main focuses include the environment, restoration of regional kaitiaki (guardianship), our youth, our future, their wellbeing and voice, making sure issues this term are not issues for future generations to fix, speaking the voices of tomorrow, today.
Standing for the Paekākāriki-Raumati ward, Kāpiti Coast District Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
I've lived in the beautiful, vibrant community of Paekākāriki since I was born and am grateful to have the beach as my backyard. I graduated from Kāpiti College last year and am working for Enviroschools and The GO Club, which is a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) group for girls aged 6 to 12 years old. I organised the New Zealand School Strike 4 Climate.
What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
• Take steps to make Paekākāriki - Raumati a place that celebrates and supports diversity, within our population, economy and local business scene.
• Establish a climate change committee, as a committee of the whole council, to look at every decision through a climate change lens.
• Provide support for youth who have no homes, through the development of emergency housing. Encourage and incentivise the development of social and community housing in our community.
• Build engagement and links in the community, horizontally between people and also vertically connecting young and old.
• Build community and ecosystem resilience now, through regenerating the natural environment in our district, creating local climate change education projects, and developing a more connected, smart and sustainable Kāpiti.
• Foster walking and cycling as a way of moving around the Coast and for kids travelling to school.
• Provide opportunities for youth to have a voice in decision-making and opportunities to enter the workforce. Council should consider developing a programme to accept Gateway students (students who gain school credits in the workplace).
Standing for the Ōrākei Local Board, Auckland City Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
I've Iived in the Ōrākei area my entire life and am studying engineering and commerce at Auckland University. As a founding member of Youth of Ōrākei (the Ōrākei Youth Council), I am all too aware of the issues young people face in Ōrākei.
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What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
• Give young people a voice in Ōrākei; support local youth initiatives, such as the Youth Council and their youth-led programmes, ensure youth are included and involved in consultations (including supporting youth representatives on local working groups).
Also, support better youth representation on local community groups. Ensure the youth perspective is considered around the decision-making table.
• Support public transport in Ōrākei.
Advocate for better connecting public transport links to our transport hubs. Support improvements to public transport. Support bus priority lanes on Ōrākei's busy roads.
Support safety improvements aimed at making spaces safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Ensure our existing pathways are well maintained and safe.
Support cycling infrastructure.
Support connecting walkways and cycle paths to public transport
Advocate for dedicated e-scooter and bike parking areas.
Make our streets safer for children to get to and from school.
• Support Ōrākei's amazing natural environment; revitalise our local parks and reserves to allow all to enjoy them, ensure we keep vehicles off our beaches and parks,
encourage "making the most" of our beaches and parks.
Has been elected to the Tauranga constituency, Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
I have been living in the mighty Tauranga since April 2019. I am born and bred in Palmerston North and have lived in Wellington and Christchurch. I am a qualified barber and have been cutting hair for five years.
What do you hope to achieve now you have won the seat?
• I aim to put more effort into community engagement. I want to see our communities within the Bay of Plenty get more involved with what the regional council does, i.e. planting bees, community meetings, consultation meetings on freshwater, public transport, biodiversity, urban growth and other exciting areas that council works in.
• I want to be a voice for the many, not the few. I am talking trees, native birds, rivers and mountains as well as our young people and our older people too. Everyone needs a voice, it is how democracy works. I will be that voice for all members of not only my constituency but the entire region too.
• I want our public transport system to be the best in the country. I wish to see more electric buses in Tauranga. We have five on the way, but I wish to see at least 10 to 15 by the end of my term in 2022. I also want to see our council perfect the bus routes and timetables. This is to ensure that we can meet everyday users requirements, whether it be getting to school or getting to work. I am also pushing for free buses for SuperGold cardholders for the entire day including peak time, and free buses for all school students (Year 1 to Year 13).
• I want to make sure we keep up the mahi when it comes to climate change. Earlier this year, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council declared a climate emergency. I plan to ensure we keep that urgency going to ensure that we, as a region, can move forward in becoming an expert when it comes to fighting climate change. For this, we need to lower our emissions within the Port of Tauranga, begin implementing the new laws the Government has set for freshwater, while also protecting our farmers and their industry.
• I want to see a clear and strong relationship with Iwi, pushing through any Treaty settlements and keeping to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, our country's founding document. I wish to work strongly with Iwi in ensuring that they are being heard on our council as well.
• I want to finish with being a strong voice for compromise. I love our primary industries, kiwifruit, dairy, sheep, beef, pork, deer etc. but I also love the environment. While on council I seek to work with farmers, horticulturists, agricultural researchers and other experts in our primary industries to find a way in which we can keep a thriving and growing economy, while also protecting our environment.
Standing for the Heretaunga ward, Hastings District Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
I've been a member of the Heretaunga community for more than 16 years, and in that time I've participated in community theatre, attended Clive School and I've worked at the Clive Four Square for the past two years. Through my time here I've met many diverse people and watched our small community grow into the vibrant place it is today. Last year I finished Havelock North High School where I'm a student co-leader of the LGBT+ group.
What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
• Sustainable development; growth that will work now and for the future through aggressive environmental impacts (natural and cultural).
• Continued consultation; every action of the council should be accountable and transparent, understanding the differing perspectives of different parties.
• Coastal management; using environmentally friendly, affordable methods to tackle coastal erosion.
• Mental health; provide easier access to frontline mental health facilities and suicide prevention.
• Water; transition to chlorine-free water through improvements in infrastructure; support cleaner waterways through flow minimums and edge planting.
• Celebrate diversity; support the diversity of the Heretaunga ward and acknowledge the need for input from people of all diversities; youth, older people, Māori, European, LGBT+ etc.
• Read more: 18-year-old announces run for Hastings District Council
Standing for the Upper Hutt City Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
My name is Michael Newell. A lot of my youth was spent in the council chambers because my mum [Heather Newell] served on council, which is how I was inspired to run in the first place. I've spent my whole life in Upper Hutt, I finished Year 13 last year at Heretaunga College and am a first-year student at Victoria studying law, politics and international relations.
What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
• Propose a bylaw to create a Youth Council to bring youth into the decision-making process.
• Advocate that rates are kept at a level that is affordable for all residents while ensuring council has sufficient money to do what it needs to do.
• Begin a campaign in the community to lean on the council to fix poor roading and footpaths, to ensure our community is as safe as it can be.
• Propose a review of the current council recycling facilities to ensure they are capable of coping with the needs of a city, and ensure that council begins to take into consideration the environmental impact each decision has.
Standing for the Nelson City Council
Tell us a bit about yourself
Growing up in Nelson in an outdoorsy family and a stone's throw away from three national parks, I've been surrounded by Aotearoa's striking nature, with a strong connection to the whenua. In my early teens, I became involved in environmental activism, through connecting with a range of incredible activists from all sorts of backgrounds and deepening my commitment to working to positively develop New Zealand.
At 17 I was selected to attend UWC Robert Bosch College and shipped off to Germany for the final two years of high school, where I was able to connect with world leaders in diplomacy, sustainability and governance. Among almost all of these leaders' messages was the recurring theme that we cannot wait for this generation to reach the traditional age before engaging in our political systems, and, thus, upon returning home I launched my campaign for city council, while also engaging in grass-roots environmental, social and Te Tiriti-based activism.
What do you hope to achieve if you win the seat?
I want to work to position Nelson as a leader in emissions reductions as well as building a compassionate, supportive approach to social justice issues.
Overhauling our approach to transport and housing to build towards a more connected, active city, while reducing our emissions and increasing affordability is probably what I'm most excited about, but I look forward to working collaboratively to maintain and upgrade our infrastructure, support local events, and contributing to Nelson's arts scene.
I hope to be able to actively engage and consult with more of our community, bringing in a wider range of views that have been excluded in previous councils.
'You don’t want to be doom and gloom your whole life. That's just a miserable way to live'