Christchurch City Libraries blog hosts a series of regular podcasts from the New Zealand specialist human rights radio show Speak up - Kōrerotia. This show is created by Sally Carlton.
In January 2024, the recently appointed National/Act/NZ First government declared it would halt proceedings, started under Labour, to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. This declaration was made the same week as the release of the Independent Electoral Review, which included a recommendation to lower the voting age, and came only months after the Supreme Court ruled that the current voting age of 18 breached the Bill of Rights Act in terms of age discrimination.
So what now? On this show, guests Deborah Hart (Independent Electoral Review Chair), Sage Garrett (youth advocacy group Make it 16), Bronwyn Wood (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington) and Darcy Lawrey (interested young person) share their views on why the voting age should change, and how the government's announcement may impact this goal.
Transcript - Youth activism
Find out more in our collection
- Our pages about New Zealand general elections and local authority elections.
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