• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
New Zealand could lower voting age to 16 after Supreme Court ruling

Home> News

Published 02:55 23 Nov 2022 GMT

New Zealand could lower voting age to 16 after Supreme Court ruling

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has thrown her support behind the movement.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

New Zealand could soon lower the voting age to 16 after a landmark Supreme Court ruling found that the current age minimum is inconsistent with the nation's Bill of Rights.

Kiwis can vote from the age of 18, however their Bill of Rights gives New Zealanders the right to be free from age discrimination when they turn 16.

The court case was put forward by voter's advocacy group Make It 16 in 2020 in a bid to see the minimum age lowered.

The ruling has now paved the way for Make It 16 to achieve their goal.

Advert

Make It 16 co-director Caeden Tipler called the ruling 'history' in the making.

"Preventing me and other 16 and 17 year-olds from voting is an unjustified breach of our right to be free from age discrimination," Tipler said.

"The government and parliament cannot ignore such a clear legal and moral message."

They added: "They must let us vote."

Advert

The Auckland 17-year-old said they felt vexxed during the 2020 New Zealand general election at not being able to vote on the issues that mattered to them.

"I became incredibly frustrated. I felt like I knew just as much as the adults around me... I was more than capable of voting," they said, as per the BBC.

The advocacy group says on its website that they believe there is insufficient justification to stop 16 year olds from voting when they can drive, work full time and pay tax.

That belief now has the backing of the courts and none other than Aotearoa's head honcho herself, Jacinda Ardern.

The New Zealand Prime Minister said the government would draft legislation to reduce the age to 16, however it will need to then put to a vote in parliament.

Advert

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. ALEXANDROS MICHAILIDIS / Alamy.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. ALEXANDROS MICHAILIDIS / Alamy.

"I personally support a decrease in the voting age but it is not a matter simply for me or even the government, any change in electoral law of this nature requires 75 per cent of parliamentarian support," Ardern said, as per Reuters.

Although the change has the support of the Kiwi Prime Minister, New Zealand's other political parties have mixed views on the subject.

The nation's Green Party wants immediate action to lower the voting age to 16.

However, the New Zealand National Party, the nation's largest opposition party, does not support the age change.

Advert

Lowering the voting age for New Zealand's local elections requires only a 51 per cent vote of approval in Parliament.

To lower the voting age for the country's general elections requires a 75 per cent majority in Parliament or a referendum.

Featured Image Credit: Pacific Press Media Production Corp. / Alamy. Picturebank / Alamy.

Topics: News, World News, Politics

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

X

@rlangjournalist

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
3 hours ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Royal Caribbean drinks package hack will save you money on future cruises

    Who doesn't love a bargain?

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Awkward moment Emmanuel Macron left hanging by his wife as they arrive in UK for state visit

    The French President is in the UK to meet the King today (8 July)

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Experts reveal 'truth' behind 'Ozempic penis' side-effect a number of men report having

    Ozempic penis does not involve you injecting your dingle with semaglutide, please don't do that

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Terrifying moment Former SAS sniper is caught in Everest avalanche during record summit attempt

    Former chief sniper instructor and demolitions expert Anthony 'Staz' Stazicker really believes that 'fortune favours the brave'

    Originals
  • Brits could be owed millions in cancelled flights compensation after landmark court ruling
  • Google ordered to 'remotely delete IPTV apps from phones' after landmark court ruling
  • Brits were warned to prepare ‘72-hour survival kit’ as UK told to ‘actively prepare’ for war
  • Experts reveal how to have best chance of survival if nuclear bomb ever hits UK