Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report for: 1 May to 30 June 2019
Commitment 2 progress report: May – June 2019
Commitment 2: Youth Parliament
Lead agency: Ministry of Youth Development
Objective: To improve understanding among young people of how Parliament works and to highlight topics that matter to young people the Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) will work with the Office of the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives to deliver an enhanced Youth Parliament 2019.
Ambition: Through delivering the six-month Youth Parliament 2019 programme, MYD aims to fulfil the five Youth Parliament objectives:
- replicate the Parliamentary process
- involve as many young people as possible (before and after the event)
- maximise the educational opportunities of the event
- enhance Parliamentary public relations
- make known the views expressed to appropriate policy agencies
To allow young people the opportunity to shape what is discussed at the two-day event the young people selected to be Youth MPs will submit potential topics for Youth Parliament select committee hearings, and potential topics for a mock bill.
OGP values: Public Participation, Technology and Innovation
Milestones
Milestone 1
Widely promote the opportunity to submit to the ten planned Youth Parliament select committee hearings ahead of the July 2019 Youth Parliament event to a diverse range of young people.
Start/End dates: April 2019-June2019
Progress: Completed
Milestone 2
Explore (with the Ministry of Education) how footage of Youth MPs speaking in the debating chamber of the New Zealand House of Representatives could be utilised as part of a civics or citizenship educational resource for schools.
Start/End dates: October 2018-June 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 3
With the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives maximise opportunities to profile Youth Parliament via social media channels, including promoting:
- the Youth MP and Youth Press Gallery selection period
- the finalising of the select committee and mock bill topics (planned to be finalised by April 2019)
- the work of Youth MPs in their communities during their tenure
- activities occurring during the two-day Youth Parliament event
Start/End dates: October 2018-August 2019
Progress: Underway
Milestone 4
Circulate Youth Parliament select committee reports to policy agencies relevant to the topics discussed and publish them on the MYD website as soon as they are available after the Youth Parliament event.
Start/End dates: July 2019-October 2019
Progress: N/A (Scheduled to start in mid-July 2019)
What we have been doing
- We drafted and released to participants background papers on the ten Youth Parliament 2019 select committee topics, including consulting with agencies relevant to each topic. Background papers were released to participants on 14 June 2019
- We finalised and released on 27 May 2019 to participants a twelve-module online training programme, designed to build on the initial face-to-face training they participated in during late February or early March 2019, and prepare them for all aspects of participating in the Youth Parliament participant orientation programme and two-day event, which will occur from 15-17 July 2019.
- The mock bill for Youth Parliament 2019, the Sustainable Energy Bill, was finalised and then released on 25 June 2019 on the Parliament website along with supporting documentation, including a ‘notes and context’ document to ensure participants are informed of the broader context the mock bill sits within.
- We updated and on 6 June 2019 published online a new set of streamlined Standing Orders and Rules for Youth Parliament, including information for people visiting the Youth Parliament two-day event.
How we are including diverse voices
Public submissions on the Youth Parliament select committee topics were sourced through promoting the opportunity to submit to a diverse range of stakeholder groups and organisations, including:
- Aotearoa New Zealand Federation of Social Studies Teachers
- Ara Taiohi and other local youth sector networks such as the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective
- Electoral Commission
- Local government organisations
- Ministry for Pacific Peoples
- Ministry for Women
- Ministry of Education
- Ministry of Social Development
- National Association of Media Educators
- New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust
- Office for Disability Issues
- Office of Ethnic Affairs
- Office of the Children’s Commissioner
- Office of the Clerk
- Office of the Speaker
- Oranga Tamariki
- Te Puni Kokiri.
We collated and summarised public submissions received through the April 2019 online submission process on the ten Youth Parliament select committee topics, and on 14 June 2019 distributed the submissions for each committee to the Youth MPs sitting on that committee.
The 120 Youth MPs participating in the Youth Parliament 2019 programme represent 20 different ethnicities. Providing them with submissions received from a diverse range of people and communities supports them to be well informed as they seek to contribute their voice and the voice of their community to select committee topic discussions at the two-day event.
How we are keeping diverse communities informed
- On 31 May 2019 we publicly released and distributed to our stakeholders the first Youth Parliament electronic newsletter, consisting of 11 articles written entirely by Youth Press Gallery members, profiling Youth MPs, the projects they are working on in their communities, and the issues they are passionate about.
- All stakeholder organisations and networks listed in the How we are including diverse voices section above received the first Youth Parliament electronic newsletter
What's next?
- The next Youth Parliament 2019 electronic newsletter, featuring content entirely written by Youth Press Gallery members, will be released in early to mid-July.
- The 140 Youth MPs and 20 Youth Press Gallery members will participate in the Youth Parliament orientation programme and two-day event from 15 to 17 July 2019 at Parliament in Wellington:
- The mock bill for Youth Parliament will be considered at the two-day event through a third reading style legislative debate, followed by a vote
- The ten Youth Parliament 2019 select committee topics will be considered and Youth MPs’ recommendations will be put into reports which will be finalised and presented in the debating chamber on day two of the Youth Parliament event.
- For the first time in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Youth Parliament, we will live broadcast the activities at the two-day event that occur in Parliament’s debating chamber, including question time (on 16 July 2019), the legislative debate and vote, the presentation of select committee reports, and the general debate (on 17 July 2019). The live broadcast will occur via Parliament TV, online and on television.
- After the two-day event, we will circulate Youth Parliament select committee reports to policy agencies relevant to the topics discussed and publish them on the MYD website as soon as they are available.
- After the two-day event, all footage of Youth Parliament 2019 sessions in the debating chamber will be uploaded to the Education Television and Video Communications Trust’s Education TV website. All of New Zealand’s schools will have free access to footage of Youth Parliament 2019, and will be able to use it as an educational resource to support the civics or citizenship elements of the curriculum.
Links – Evidence of progress and milestones achieved
- The May 2019 Youth Parliament electronic newsletter is available here
- We shared a link to the electronic newsletter though a 6 June 2019 Facebook post, which reached 5,987 people.
- The mock bill for Youth Parliament 2019, the Sustainable Energy Bill, is now available on the Parliament website.
- The programme for the Youth Parliament 2019 two day event is available online, and identifies the programme elements that will be live broadcast on Parliament TV.
- Youth Parliament 2019 Standing Orders and Rules are available online.