Youth look for voice on new council

JESSIE COLQUHOUN

Forty-two per cent of Manukau's population is finally getting a voice.

Late last year Manukau City Council set up an interim youth council and asked it to create a plan for its permanent replacement.

The finalised plan was presented to the council last month and passed in "five seconds flat", says interim youth council member Jonathan Miller.

The idea came about after Len Brown's mayoral letter last year outlined his aim of getting young people more involved in their community.

Young people had also put their hand up to put forward their thoughts on council issues.

Angela Joseph, 24, says the youth council will act as a bridge between the city council and the youth of Manukau.

"There's never been a voice for youth before," she says.

Unlike other youth forums and committees which were not particularly successful, the youth council is a part of the city council and its advice will be taken seriously.

"The council is willing to support us 100 per cent," she says.

The youth council will make recommendations to the council and raise issues it thinks are important to young people.

Though it might seem pointless to create a youth council when Auckland will become a supercity in a few months, Angela and Jonathan say that is deliberate. They want the youth council to be "set in stone" before the supercity starts so it is more likely to continue when the changes are made. Jonathan and members of youth councils in Waitakere, Auckland and the North Shore made a submission to the Auckland select committee to propose an Auckland youth council under the supercity.

All the members were worried about whether the youth councils would be able to continue in the supercity, he says.

So they are hoping to get a youth council written into legislation, taking the decision away from the new mayor and councillors.

"If it's written into legislation they can't do much about it," Jonathan says.

Several submissions were made.

Though he does not want to get his hopes up he is quietly confident south Auckland youth will have a voice in the supercity.

The Manukau Youth Council will be made up of 24 people aged 15 to 25 with representatives from each community board – the structure the city council now works with.

Nominations close on April 15 and elections will be held on April 26.

For more information and nomination forms go to manukau.govt.nz, ring 2628900 extension 5129, or email youthcouncil@manukau.govt.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News