The Auckland Council Youth Panel
September 19th, 2011 at 12:00 pm by David FarrarAn interesting press release from Joseph Bergin:
A member of the youth panel set up by Auckland Council is speaking out about wasteful spending and the concerning direction the panel is heading in.
This comes as a report is due out from the Auckland Council today which recommends local boards adopt a “youth board model” that could cost the Auckland ratepayer upwards of $330,000, this on top of a further $90,000 revealed to have been wasted by the current panel earlier this week.
I am a fan of youth involvement in politics, and I think it is a good idea that the Auckland Council has a youth panel.
However recommending that each local board also has a youth panel at a cost of $330,000 is tokenism gone wrong. The issues for young people will not differ that greatly from board area to board area.
The panel came under fire this week on social media following the release of an Official Information request by the New Zealand Young Nationals revealing that almost $90,000.00 was being spent by the current Foundation Youth Advisory Panel, on taxi rides, phone top ups, petrol reimbursements, flights and food for panel members.
I think the youth board would be best advised to provide some useful outputs for its funding, rather than just trying to clone itself 20 times over.
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September 19th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Youth panel? Homosexual panel? Elderly panel? Any other than Maori ethnicity panel? Where does it stop?
Vote:Political correctness gone mad.
September 19th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
“I am a fan of youth involvement in politics”
Why?
[DPF: Because it is their future]
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Those panels would become defacto Young Labour/Green and Rainbow Youth panels. Spending rate-payer money to push political agendas.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
“Those panels would become defacto Young Labour/Green and Rainbow Youth panels. Spending rate-payer money to push political agendas.”
Exactly. Not to mention that anyone under the age of 25 should not be allowed anywhere near politics.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
“I am a fan of youth involvement in politics”
I am not.
They have no life experience, cannot have formed any real opinions of their own and are unable to have any empathy with their constituents.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Cripes, for once BB and I agree on something.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
“I am not [a fan of youth becoming involved in politics].
They have no life experience, cannot have formed any real opinions of their own and are unable to have any empathy with their constituents.”
You are a moron.
That having been said, as a student myself, I’m not a massive fan of silly things like the Auckland City Youth Council because I know the types of people who get onto such boards. They are typically ambitious, power-hungry people of average intelligence who want to be smarter and more sophisticated than they are, and achieve this by adopting every fashionable (read: politically correct) attitude they can think of.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
They are rolling out a left wing political career opportunity to replace Students Associations when VSM comes in.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Good old Len. Making Christine Fletcher and Alan Hubbard look less and less like the worse mayors possible by the day
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
How are youth panels selected?
This is the guy who made the press release: http://www.elections2010.co.nz/2010/candidates/joseph-bergin and here is the rest of the panel: http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/News/NewsArticles/Pages/mayorlaunchesyouthadvisorypanel.aspx
I’m 21. I have no interest in youth panels. And, like peterwn and Aredhel777 said, the people on these panels are unlikely to really represent youth any better than Len Brown himself.
Admittedly young people face serious problems (unemployment, criminality, etc.). Maybe a youth panel can help understand the causes of these problems. However, I think that two dozen head prefects (or whoever is on the panel) are as disconnected from those problems as I am.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
@Kiwi greg you need a “dick” for your Hubbard
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Can someone explain why a Auckland Youth Panel needs to have ‘flights’ paid for; where do they fly from to? (Waiheke – CBD perhaps?). Another trough.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Be reasonable people: without compulsory university student unions, how else but through bodies such as the council youth panel can aspiring Labour activists be funded?
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I’m all for ways to involve younger people in politics. There’s the youth Parliament thing that’s been going for years. Lowering the voting age would be good.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
The youth parliament attracts the same kind of politically correct, self-important wankers as the Auckland City Youth Council. Rather than focusing on new ways to get young people involved in politics, why not put that money into education and actually getting young people more interested in politics and other important things? At the moment my generation is generally extremely apathetic about politics and anything that doesn’t affect their personal wealth and prospects, as you can see by the percentage of people who turn up to vote in comparison with the number of people over 50 who vote.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
I’d like to see more practically focused civics education. Maybe with a test for students to pass to allow them to vote earlier than age 18?
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Possibly but it would never happen Mike.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Lee01 (699) Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Exactly. Not to mention that anyone under the age of 25 should not be allowed anywhere near politics.
Not to mention that anyone who believes in an imaginary God should not be allowed anywhere near politics.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Perhaps one should not be allowed to choose God until one is 25 either.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
“Not to mention that anyone who believes in an imaginary God should not be allowed anywhere near politics.”
I agree. They should believe in the real and living God.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
“Not to mention that anyone who believes in an imaginary God should not be allowed anywhere near politics.”
You don’t think that’s a little prejudiced? There is a whole world of intelligent religious people out there, just as there are a whole lot of intelligent atheists.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Courage Wolf’s just looking forward to the day when religious belief is officiallly categorised as a psychiatric disorder.
I seem to recall Thomas Szarz writing something along the lines of ‘if you talk to God you are praying; but if God talks to you it is a delusion.’
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Aredhel777 (55) Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
You don’t think that’s a little prejudiced? There is a whole world of intelligent religious people out there, just as there are a whole lot of intelligent atheists.
In response to Lee’s original post: You don’t think that’s a little prejudiced? There’s a whole world of intelligent young people out there, just as there are a whole lot of intelligent older people.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
@ gravedodger – thanks – I knew it looked wrong but I was rushed as had to do actual paid employment.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Ah, I thought you were serious, Courage Wolf. My apologies, I should have realised that nobody short of Soviet-esque communists could be that irrational.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
“I agree. They should believe in the real and living God.”
Ahh but which one, there are so many to chose from. Thor has his own movie and comic books for instance.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Ridiculous waste of money though slightly less so than the Maori money go round.
Vote:September 19th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Well times have certainly changed! When I was the Auckland City Youth Council Chairperson in the early 90′s we had no discretionary funds at all. We operated on a purely voluntary basis and yet we managed to set up the successful Nite Rider bus service for teens to get home in the weekends after a late night out. All planned and done for free. I got a Jason Snell Memorial Certificate for my efforts but no dosh!
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