The Green Party has added voting at 16 to the Green Party priorities for electoral reform set out in Golriz Ghahraman’s Strengthening Democracy Bill.

“Increasingly across the world we are seeing switched on young people who are desperately unhappy with the decisions political leaders are making about their futures,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said.

“With the climate change crisis upon us, millions of young people around the world are taking to the streets demanding to be heard by political leaders. The decisions made by politicians today will have a huge impact on these young people decades into the future.

“They’re allowed to leave home, learn to drive, work and pay taxes, they should be allowed to elect politicians making decisions about their future”.

“It has long been Green Party policy to support measures that enhance access to democracy”, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said.

“Increasingly, we’ve seen rangatahi deeply frustrated by the political system.

“There is a deep sense that we must move boldly on climate action to preserve their future. We agree and think they should have the opportunity to have their say when it comes to political leaders who make these decisions.

“Students feel like they’ve been largely let down by adults over the decades. They want to engage in democracy and their futures, and we should absolutely make space for that”.

ENDS

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