McAnulty KieranELECTORAL (LOWERING VOTING AGE FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND POLLS) LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister of Local Government): Thank you Mr Speaker. I present a legislative statement on the Electoral (Lowering Voting Age for Local Elections and Polls) Legislation Bill. DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon KIERAN McANULTY: I move That the Electoral (Lowering Voting Age for Local Elections and Polls) Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill. In November last year the Supreme Court granted a declaration of inconsistency with the Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Act. The court declared that the minimum voting age of 18 years was inconsistent with section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of age. This case was brought to the court by the youth advocacy group Make It 16. I would like to acknowledge this group for their effort and determination to stand up and be the voice of young people in the court proceedings. In March this year the Prime Minister confirmed that the Government would introduce legislation this term to lower the voting age for local elections to 16 years of age and the Government has done just that. This bill amends the Local Electoral Act to give more young people a voice in who represents them and their communities. It gives them the ability to vote or to stand as a candidate but more than that it gives them the opportunity to take a greater part in our local democratic system. To do this the bill will reduce the minimum voting age from 18 to 16 for local elections. The bill will create a new category of youth electors in the Local Electoral Act. It will also establish a youth electoral roll which will be maintained by the Electoral Commission to the same high standards of security and integrity as the parliamentary roll. In New Zealand all voters who are New Zealand citizens can stand as candidates in local elections so 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to do this too and as always voters will be able to decide who is best to represent them and their communities. The bill does make one distinction: for participating in elections under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. These are elections for licensing trusts and community trusts that are included in the triennial elections. In this case the Government has decided to keep the age at 18 for standing as a candidate or voting in these elections. This lines up with the alcohol purchasing age of 18. The bill is an answer to a call that has gone on for too long. We have been told time and time again by our young people that they deserve to vote and represent the communities they live in and have a voice in decisions that will have long-term consequences for them. They've made submissions to select committee inquiries lodged petitions to Parliament organised protests and appeared outside this very building. On their fight to vote they went all the way to our highest court. As we all know the Make It 16 group won their case in the Supreme Court. The court said that the age discrimination in the Local Electoral Act had not been justified. There has been and may continue to be criticism that young people are not mature enough to vote. I do not agree. In its report to the High Court the Office of the Children's Commissioner cited a 2019 study that people in their mid-teens are generally able to make deliberate decisions comparable to voting. From this study the commissioner reported that when situations call for deliberation in the absence of high levels of emotion such as voting the ability of an individual to reason and consider alternative courses of action reaches adult levels during the mid-teen years. The Justice Committee recently completed an inquiry into the Supreme Court's declaration of inconsistency. The committee recommended by majority that legislation should be introduced to lower the voting age for local elections. The majority on the committee noted that the arguments they found persuasive included that 16- and 17-year-olds are likely to be better connected to their communities than 18- 19- and 20-year-olds who often leave home for work or study opportunities; that those who begin voting as soon as they are eligible are more likely to maintain a lifelong habit of voting; and that the evidence shows that when it comes to voting 16- and 17-year-olds are capable of deliberating reasoning and considering options at adult levels. We already have young people with passion purpose and an eagerness to lead that are out and active within their communities. They see opportunities for positive change a chance for something different—something better. One may ask why we aren't looking at lowering the voting age for parliamentary elections as well. While the Government is required to respond to the court's declaration as the Prime Minister has said before we can't justify work on a bill that we know will not get the support it needs. It's entrenched so it needs 75 percent majority support in the House to pass. We know we would not get that level of support in this Parliament so instead we're focusing on local elections as part of our response to the court's declaration. This is not a simple bill. Changing the minimum voting age for local elections alone is complex. As it currently stands the Local Electoral Act uses the parliamentary roll as the basis for voter eligibility. It essentially piggybacks off the Electoral Act. With such complexity there is room for change and improvements if needed. I look forward to and welcome submissions on these during the full select committee phase. I know we have some great minds across New Zealand and we will certainly have some passionate young people that should be heard. The bill has a commencement date of 1 March 2028 in time for the 2028 local elections. I know that some will be disappointed that this change cannot be implemented sooner. Local electoral changes are always challenging to implement because they need to fit within two electoral cycles: local and parliamentary. That's particularly the case for this bill because the bulk of the implementation responsibility falls to the Electoral Commission. The complexity of the system changes needed for a local elections - only model and the timing of the electoral cycle means that the Electoral Commission would not be able to design and implement system changes in time for the 2025 local elections but the bill also includes the ability to bring the commencement date forward by up to a year if the changes can be put in place earlier. We have much work to do. But I am confident that we can work to address the issue of human rights raised in the court's declaration. In conclusion the Government was required to respond to the Supreme Court's declaration of inconsistency. This bill forms part of that response. It will go through a full select committee process where New Zealanders will have the opportunity to have their say. The question of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to participate in local elections will be for the next Parliament to determine and I look forward to that discussion. But for the time being I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.