Kiwiblog

Youth Parliament is every three years, and will be 16 and 17 July this year. I think it is an excellent initiative to promote civic awareness among younger New Zealanders.

The major topic for Youth Parliament will be electoral reform. Youth MPs will debate a bill that:

• reduces the voting age from 18 years to 17 years
• includes electronic voting to the methods of voting
• makes voting compulsory for all eligible voters
• extends the Term of Parliament from three years to four.

Also select committees will consider the following issues:

• How can public expectations for social services be balanced against likely rising costs for these services?
  
• Are young people taking enough responsibility for reducing and preventing substance abuse or should this be government’s role?
• What are the barriers to young people entering employment across New Zealand workplaces and how can these be addressed?
• Should government restrict or permit private businesses profiting from conservation activities?
• Compulsory vs. elective subjects in secondary schools – should subjects like science be compulsory?
• Purchasing online: supporting modern consumerism
• Where should New Zealand’s international obligations lie – Pacific or wider afield
• White collar vs blue collar crimes: do current sentences reflect the economic and social impacts of these crimes?
• As more iwi move towards a post-settlement environment, how do rangatahi see the role of iwi in supporting the development of the next generation?
• Can New Zealand afford to be free range?

The list of the 121 Youth MPs and 20 youth press gallery members is here.

If any Youth MP or youth press gallery member wants to do a guest post/s at Kiwiblog detailing their experiences with Youth Parliament, just let me know. I can arrange a guest login.

The 2013 Youth Parliament is on 16 and 17 July 2013.

All 121 MPs will select a Youth MP, plus there will be 10 Youth Press Gallery members. It’s a great opportunity for young people interested in politics.

If you are aged between 16 and 18 you are eligible to be a Youth MP. Each MP will make a selection as they see fit. Most run some sort of application process and judging contest.

Don’t be shy. If you don’t apply, you can’t be considered.

Congratulations to 122 Youth MPs, who have been selected for the Youth Parliament. They are:

Having done a quick tally there appear to be 66 girls and 56 guys, which is quite a difference from the main Parliament. However this is based on some educated guesses using christian names, and it may vary a bit from my calculation.

Amelia MacDonald of Takapuna Grammar has been selected as Phil Twyford’s Youth MP for this year’s Youth Parliament. Each of the 11 contenders had to do a short video on “what they thought NZ should do to make the world a safer, fairer and more sustainable place”, according to Phil at Red Alert.

Amelia’s video is above. I want to argue an alternative point of view to what Amelia advocated. Now if people comment, I don’t want any negative comments on Amelia – just a discussion of the topic. Personally I’m a huge fan of young people taking an interest in politics, and think the Youth Parliament is an excellent way to foster this. Anyone who gets to be selected as a Youth MP, has my respect – even if I disagree with their views.

Incidentally I thought her video was very quirky and well done. But turning to the substance:

I actually agreed with her on the need for armed intervention in Sudan. But sadly China blocks UN action there – one of the problems of needing a UN mandate.

Amelia calls for fair trade, but says this should happen through education, not through cutting off ties with China. Now while I think fair trade is more a slogan than anything else, I am pleased to see realism that cutting trade links is not the way to go.

At 3:50 Amelia says we need to stop importing so much un-necessary stuff, and asks why on earth is it necessary to be importing oranges from California when Kerikeri can do it perfectly well.

This is where I seriously disagree with the notion that importing is bad. But before we talk importing generally, let me address the specific – one reason we import Oranges from California is because they are seasonal, and that is the only way to get them 12 months a year.

More generally one country’s imports is another export’s. If we take a position that one should discourage imports, then we are asking for our dairy, lamb and wool exports to be blocked by other countries.

But more importantly it is about comparative advantage. Let’s use an example of apples and oranges for the US and California. If NZ produce apples for $1/kg and the US produces apples for $2/kg, while NZ produces oranges for $3/kg and the US does oranges for $2/kg also.

The best use of resources is for NZ to produce apples and the US to produce oranges.

Amelia says “less importing means more money for our economy to be spent elsewhere”. This is not always the case. Often NZ will be better off importing something, and exporting something else.

Amelia goes on to say that the money saved from importing can be used to increase aid for developing countries.

My view is that free trade would do far more for developing countries that free aid. The EU and US have massive protectionism in place against imports from developing countries, and that the best thing they could do for Africa, would be allow them to sell their goods in Europe – even if it undercuts local suppliers.

Why have China and India reduced massively the number of citizens they have in absolute poverty, compared to Africa? Because they have freed up their economic, and embraced trade.

This is why even left wing parties like Labour, sign free trade deals with China. Because trade benefits people in both countries.

While well intentioned, I don’t think the solution for poverty in Africa is to trade less, and give more aid. I think it is to trade more, and allow countries to become sustainable without aid. Singapore used to receive aid, as did Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Aid is necessary for many countries, but it is not a long-term solution. The long-term solution is good governance, property rights (to attract investment) and trade.