The seats of power in the House were taken over the last two days by 122 young people, aged 16 to 18, for this year's youth parliament.
Youth Parliament has been held every three years since 1994.
Young people from around New Zealand are chosen by their local (electorate) Member of Parliament (MP) or a List MP to be a Youth Member of Parliament (Youth MP).
During Youth Parliament, Youth MPs have the opportunity to debate legislation, sit on select committees and ask parliamentary questions of Cabinet Ministers.
The pupils have experienced all the "real life" activities of government, from select committee hearings to question time in Parliament, where questions submitted by pupils were drawn from the ballot and put to the real MPs.
Youth Parliament 2010 is as real as possible. Government personnel and procedures are maintained.
Group rules:
Identify yourself – always identify who you are and who you represent.
Be honest – Tell the truth and if you find you have made a mistake, let people know.
Be respectful – attacks on individuals or particular groups will not be tolerated.
Separate opinions from facts – the debate is always better when you know the different.
Add value – be informative and interesting.
Aim for quality, not quantity – Offer your contribution with context whenever you can. Provide links to other sources where you can.
Don’t pick fights – It’s okay to present different facts but effect the whole group if you just go in guns a blazing.
This is a youth space – this is a space for young people, use of this space by adults to push their own agenda is inappropriate.
Personal information – never disclose personal information on the web, including this space.
Legal issues – remember this is a public and permanent space, if you are defamatory or breach human rights laws, you could be legally liable.
The general manager for the Youth Development Ministry, Carl Crafar, said this year's crop of young MPs were "a very confident group", and he could easily imagine many of them going on to have careers in politics. Labour MP Darren Hughes is a former youth MP.
Mr Crafar said select committee reports and a bill created by the youth MPs would later be tabled in Parliament by Youth Affairs Minister Paula Bennett.
If you are curious to know the list of these young MPs click on the link below!
http://www.myd.govt.nz/have-your-say/youth-parliament/list-of-youth-mps-and-mps-june.pdfYou can also join them on Facebook to get all the lastest information, reports and support them (Facebook Group: “New Zealand Youth Parliament 2010”)
mydinfo@myd.govt.nz
http://www.youthparliament.govt.nz/Ministry of Youth Development
PO Box 1556
Wellington, New Zealand
Edited and Published by Alice Poujois for Education Wellignton