Should the voting age be 16?

A review into our electoral laws is getting underway and will consider whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, May 25, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: OCR rise tipped today; PM talks tourism in New York; health worker strike averted; but first a review of electoral laws could bring big change. 

Terms of reference have been announced for a review of electoral laws (Photo: RNZ/Nate McKinnon)

Electoral laws to be reviewed

The government has announced terms of reference for a review of electoral laws. The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan outlines what’s being covered. The voting age grabs headlines but the review will also consider the length of the parliamentary term, overseas voting and political financing, and could recommend an increase in the number of seats in parliament. Plenty to unpack in future Bulletins. An independent panel chaired by Deborah Hart has been appointed to oversee the review. 

Green MP member’s electoral reform bill drawn from biscuit tin

The announcement comes days after Green MP Golriz Ghahraman's Electoral Amendment Bill was drawn from the biscuit tin. Ghahraman is still hoping the government will support her bill. That bill proposes enabling voters of Māori descent to change between rolls at any time, lowering the voting age, overseas voting requirements (an issue Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva covers here) and extending the right to vote to all prisoners. Make it 16, an advocacy group for lowering the age have taken cases to the High Court and the Court of Appeal on the basis that Acts that legislate the voting age as 18 are “inconsistent” with the Bill of Rights. They are now taking their case to the Supreme Court.

Only 13% of New Zealanders want the age lowered in 2020 poll

This 2021 documentary on the Spinoff looks at the Make it 16 argument while philosophy lecturer Nick Munn has looked at the benefits of lowering the age. According to a 2020 1 News Colmar Brunton poll, only 13% of New Zealanders want the age lowered. Yale Law professor Gideon Yaffe argues that reducing the voting age justifies “treating 16 and 17 year olds as adults in the criminal justice system”. Youth justice experts here don’t want children aged between 10 and 17 being dealt with in the adult court at all. Around the world, voting ages span between 16-21. The United Arab Emirates is an outlier at 25. Any age limit is somewhat arbitrary and a line has to be drawn somewhere. 

Prime minister plumps for civics education 

When the prime minister answered a question about this on Monday (from 33:10 here), she said she was open to the discussion but diverted to the importance of civics education. A holding pattern and possibly a red herring. Longitudinal research also suggests that active participation trumps any kind of classroom teaching. I went to high school many years ago but I guess I thought civics education was doing debating, student council and model UN (regretting this disclosure already). This might not have been typical but civics education is not just about “politics”. It’s about understanding your rights and duties, how to listen to the views of others and how to access government agencies. These are good things to teach, and at a younger age than 16, but they’re not exclusively required as a prerequisite to voting. It’s also never been taught before so everyone that’s ever voted from age 18 has done so without these magical powers.

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Rise tipped for OCR announcement today 

The Reserve Bank will update the official cash rate today. Most economists are picking a rise of 50 basis points which would take it to 2%.  Looking at the impact of OCR rises on home loan interest rate rises, Stuff’s Susan Edmonds explains that interest rates may not get much higher, saying “the main reason that we are already paying more for our home loans is that further increases are being priced in by the financial markets.”  Writing about the Reserve Bank’s balancing act right now, the Herald’s Liam Dann (paywalled) says “There will be a fine line between knocking the economy back on its heels and inflicting blunt force trauma in the form of recession.” 

The PM in New York

Reporting from New York, the NZ Herald’s political editor Claire Trevett writes that there is optimism about a meeting being secured with Joe Biden and that it will be tagged on to the end of her trip. While you’ve been sleeping, the prime minister has met with travel editors from Conde Naste, Forbes, NBC, and the New York Times. She will also meet with BlackRock, the world's biggest investment fund today. Rod Oram has recently questioned their commitment to sustainable investment principles. She will speak to the media after her meeting with UN secretary general Antonio Guterres at around 7.15am our time. Ardern will also make her fourth appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert today. That goes to air at 3.35pm (NZT).  

Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends

Season three of the award-winning series Scratched: Aotearoa's Lost Sporting Legends celebrates five more New Zealand athletes whose incredible feats have been forgotten or gone unappreciated. WATCH episode featuring trailblazing woodchopper Sheree Taylor on The Spinoff now.  Taylor paved the way for New Zealand women to compete in the male-dominated sport of woodchopping, winning countless world championships and national titles along the way. But of all her wins, there’s one that stands out as being especially meaningful. 

Made with the support of NZ On Air. 

10,000 allied health workers call off proposed strike

After striking on May 16, with another mooted for July 1, DHBs have put a new offer on the table for the health workforce. It will be taken to members to vote on. Allied health workers have been negotiating for 19 months now. The Public Service Association (PSA) that represents them is recommending members accept the new offer. The offer made before the May 16 strike wasn’t taken to members as the PSA said it didn’t reflect recommendations from the Employment Relations Authority or cost of living pressures. The offer details were disclosed by health minister Andrew Little to Stuff which the PSA called a “breach of good faith”, a “moral failing” and “clearly intended to undermine the PSA’s position and strike action.”

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz

Right now on The Spinoff:

Is Shortland Street New Zealand's most important TV show? Duncan Greive presents the argument that it is. Child Poverty Action Group's Alan Johnson says the housing decisions in this year's budget illustrate the deep malaise of this government's housing policy. Simon Pound meets Simran Kaur, co-host of chart-topping podcast Girls That Invest on the latest episode of Business Is Boring. Reweti Kohere charts the evolution of the Shortland Street nurses' scrubs over the last 30 years. And for IRL, Shanti Mathias looks at the online services helping people donate to causes they care about without spending a cent and asks: what's the catch?

Alarm bells were ringing but only a few were listening

A follow up to the Bulletin last week on the Cycling NZ report. Holly Thorpe has asked why, after decades of research and advocacy, sports organisations are still not listening and subsequently failing women? Thorpe is a professor of sport, gender and youth culture and founding member of High Performance Sport NZ working group, WHISPA. I saw Holly tweet about some of this after the report was released so I’m pleased it’s been captured on LockerRoom. I also recommend listening to Stuff’s Zoe George talking to Bryan Crump on RNZ on Monday night. She does a particularly great job on a question about the whole point of high performance sport being winning. It’s not a stupid question at all and Zoe unpacks it really well.