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Thursday July 15, 2010 Youth Parliament 2010
Youth Parliament 2010 has just concluded for the year. Held once every three years, it’s a chance for young people (one for every current MP) to do just about everything we do in Parliament from debating in the debating chamber, sitting on select committee, asking Ministers questions, and attending a caucus meeting. I had the privilege of being represented in the House by Allanah Colley of Western Springs College. She did an exceptional job and it was an absolute pleasure listening to her questioning Chris Finlayson in the House over MMP.
This year, the youth MPs discussed a bill, which was especially drafted for youth parliament, on the age of majority. This was a timely discussion given the range of contradictions we have in law as to when young people are granted the rights and responsibilities of an adult.
We spend a lot of time talking about young people in Parliament, but not a lot of time talking with them. I'm looking forward to hearing what the youth MPs have come up with as a result of Youth Parliament 2010.
Back to top Youth Health Petition
A couple of weeks ago, I presented a petition calling on the Government to provide sustainable funding for Youth Health One Stop Shops and Youth Health Centres around New Zealand.
Youth Health Centres (or “One Stop Shops” as they are commonly called) deal with a variety of issues facing young people. Some services that these centres provide include (but are certainly not limited to) things like advocacy and support services; youth development programmes and counselling and health services including drug and alcohol treatment programmes. It’s highly important that young people have a place to access these services and Youth Health Centres have proven to be invaluable to those who rely on these programmes.
The Ministry of Health released a report in September last year stating that Youth Health One stop shops provide an incredibly important service in our communities and cater for health needs of some of our most vulnerable young people at little or no cost to young people.
The report also stated these services provided “a range of accessible, youth friendly health, social and other services....at little or no cost to young people. It is clear that these facilities have real value to thousands of youth across New Zealand.”
Despite these positive findings, we have seen once such service (198 in Christchurch) forced to close due to funding issues, and other services facing a similar fate.
I’ve urged the Health Select Committee to work alongside the New Zealand Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development network to get a better understanding of the role youth health services currently play in our community and to increase funding to our current facilities. I’ll keep you posted on any developments!
Back to top The Budget
We’ve all had a bit of time to digest the Government’s latest Budget. While the focus is often on the immediate implications, I’m concerned that this Budget loads a generation of young people with debt. Young people in particular will have to bare the future cost of superannuation, which this Government has suspended contributions to.
Tertiary education is also undergoing an upheaval with the ongoing caps for the upcoming second semester. Those who have secured a place will face increased costs as the budget confirmed that the Government will lift the cap on course fees. While the Youth Guarantee places may have been extended in the workforce, this does not counteract the effect that capping places on enrolments for Polytechnics and Universities will have.
Add all of these additional costs to the implementation of property tax changes, and rises in the cost of living, and young people will find themselves potentially having to accrue more debt. Those young people who are not living at home have already found that their landlords are increasing rents and this is set to continue.
If you have any particular thoughts on the budget, I’d love to hear them. Drop me an email at ja[Email].
Back to top Te Hurihanga Closure
Te Hurihanga Youth Justice Centre had been operational since April 2007 and was an eighteen month pilot residential and community-based treatment programme in Hamilton for young male offenders aged 14-17 years.
Te Hurihanga was one of the few evidence based youth justice programmes operating in New Zealand that had been fully evaluated with positive outcomes. Despite this, the Government made the decision to close the programme, claiming it cost too much.
Although Mr. Power has declined to estimate the cost of a young offender who is continuing down a path of crime toward eventual imprisonment, we know it would be far greater than the cost of early intervention programmes such as Te Hurihanga.
The rate of reoffending upon completion of the Te Hurihanga programme illustrated that the programme was making a real difference. It’s disappointing that the Government has not chosen to support this programme- and I only hope whatever replaces it is evaluated to the same degree, and produces the results we should all be demanding.
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