Paula Bennett: Age 16 vote detracts from mental health, housing and crime issues

There's a lot 16 and 17-year-olds need; one thing is a bed in a mental health unit if they need it. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

What a week. The Government would like us to be talking about whether 16 and 17-year-olds can vote. It is one of those issues that people generally have an opinion on and it’s a distraction from the major issues that have gone on this week.

They can’t pass legislation to strengthen our laws around youth crime but miraculously they can find time to bring legislation to Parliament on whether 16 and 17-year-olds can vote. They will say they had to.

The Supreme Court says the fact 16 and 17-year-olds can’t vote is discriminatory and inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. The Government does have an obligation to respond but does not have to introduce legislation.

The Government looks like a deer in headlights, desperately deciding where to run to divert attention from the absolute mess we have seen this week. Remember those big bold promises about making mental health a priority.

They thought that announcing a major $1.9 billion spend would make the problem go away. Yet again it is their lack of a plan and then executing it that has meant we found out this week that after five years and all those promises there is not a single extra bed for acute mental health patients.

They raised expectations and gave some families hope that help would be available. They yet again discover how badly they have been let down.

The shopkeeper’s death this week is shocking and just so sad. But is it really shocking when week after week we have heard about ram raids and burglaries? We have repeatedly seen shopkeepers begging for help, but they have been largely ignored. The Police Minister doesn’t even visit with the victims of crime to hear first-hand the devastating effects.

Ridiculous rules that you can’t access the Government’s funding assistance to add safety measures to your diary unless you have been the victim of a crime meant that the dairy in question was allegedly turned down for assistance.

As we hear this week that we are heading into a recession – and one that is predicted to last a long time - the Government would like us to be talking about whether 16 and 17-year-olds can vote. There is a lot that those 16 and 17-year-olds need. To feel safe in our beautiful country. To have hope that they may be able to buy a home one day. A bed in a mental health unit if they need it. Next year let’s hope they get a new government with the right priorities.

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.