Bay Harbour: July 31, 2019

Wednesday July 31 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Your Local Views
Youth MPs raise issues
BAY HARBOUR
Local
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PAGE 13
Fire rages, homes at risk
Port Hills MP
Ruth Dyson
writes about
her youth
representative,
Cha’nel Kaa-
Luke, and her
experience
during a two-day Youth
Parliament event in
Wellington on July 16 and
17
Once in every three-year term
of Parliament, each MP and the
press gallery journalists have
an opportunity to send a young
person from their electorate to
represent them in our Youth
Parliament.
My representative this year
is Cha’nel Kaa-Luke, a student
at Van Asch Deaf Education
Centre who is studying at Hillmorton
High School. She did a
fantastic job and was elected to
chair the Maori Affairs Select
Committee – a real privilege.
For many people, Parliament
is an alien environment and it
is so good to see it being taken
over by young people who are all
bursting with fresh ideas about
how to make our country better.
Cha’nel raised the profile of deaf
students and issues impacting
on them in a way that no hearing
person is able to do. And
her fluency in three languages is
DEDICATED: Cha’nel Kaa-Luke (left) represented Ruth Dyson
and Mia Wright represented Nicky Wagner at a two-day Youth
Parliament event in Wellington on July 16 and 17
impressive and unusual in New
Zealand born people.
The Youth MPs got to not only
work in the select committee
environment but also to debate
in Parliament itself. They raised
issues which need to be debated
and considered more, particularly
around access to mental
health support, climate change
and respect for the voices of
young people. They certainly
earned that respect.
Our electorate was honoured
to actually have another “local”
represented as Mia Wright from
Sumner was also a Youth MP for
my colleague Nicky Wagner. She
described it as “amazing and a
cool experience.”
It is an experience which
I certainly hope breaks
down some of the barriers
between our young people and
understanding how Parliament
works. Our Youth MPs are the
leaders of the future (in fact
several current Members of
Parliament were Youth MPs)
and I know that both Cha’nel
and Mia represented us well and
I am proud of them both.
WE ARE
MOVE A
Diane Patricia McCarthy​ responds to last week’s article
about how city councillors and community board members
may get ratepayer-subsidised childcare
WHY SHOULD elected officials
be reimbursed childcare fees? This
policy from the Remuneration
Authority is long overdue. It has
taken until 2019 to be put in place
for adoption by councils. Selwyn
District Council has adopted its
policy. It enables all citizens to
participate in their
civic duties without
detriment to the
health and well being
of their children.
Perhaps it should be
extended to other
dependents, such as
costs of after school
care up to 14, caregiving for
disability, health-related issues,
elderly relative care, and perhaps
companion animals. Employers
can be encouraged to write
such clauses into individual and
collective employment contracts
for their staff. Recognition of
the cost of quality care for those
who depend on elected officials
and employees for their health
and well-being is sensible and
transparent. PPTA
chose to do this for its
TO A NEW
staff back in the 1980s.
It’s about time we all
caught up with this
FERRYM
progressive, inclusive
policy. Any elected
officials who consider
EARTHQU
their civic work parttime,
or their income streams
sufficient to cover their childcare
costs already, can choose whether
or not to seek reimbursement.
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