Councillor’s attacks on young people Not Cool!

The New Zealand Young Nationals are calling on Auckland Councillor, Michael Goudie to quit his ongoing personal attacks on young people who speak out about wasteful spending by a youth panel he is responsible for.

“Michael Goudie has been captured by Len Brown and council bureaucrats because they can’t handle being held to account for wasting thousands of ratepayer dollars on pointless extravagance. It’s a complete mess,” says Young Nationals Vice President, Zach Castles.

It was revealed last week that Len Brown’s Youth Panel which Goudie oversees is wasting $90,000 on taxi rides, flights around the country, phone top ups, petrol reimbursement and food for panel members along with plans to extend the staff-appointed panel’s role across the Auckland region costing the ratepayer $330,000 without consulting Aucklanders. Concerned at this waste and the direction of the panel, when panel members went public, Goudie attacked them.

“As the youngest member of the Auckland Council, why can’t Michael Goudie and Len Brown front up and tell Aucklanders why their plan is going to cost ratepayers $330,000 when their current panel is wasting $90,000? Why are they wasting money when they could be investing in the community that needs it most?” says Castles.

Panel members are speaking up and it appears things are not well on an already troubled and unstable panel. It is known more and more panel members are talking about the issues but are remaining anonymous due to how Goudie or the council might potentially react.

“We need a solution that will effectively engage youth. The panel should be supporting a more democratic model that works for young people, ends the waste and delivers the results,” says Northern Young Nationals chairman, Sean Topham.

“At the end of the day this panel is wasting money and proposing to waste even more. Youth representation actually matters, Len Brown's youth panel is not the type of representation most young people want or need. We owe it to our city’s future to come together and change this.”

ENDS
__

© Scoop Media