Court win for teens no guarantee of success

A Supreme Court win by group of teens seeking to lower the voting age to 16 has been tempered by those with the power to effect change – the politicians.

The court yesterday decided the current voting was unjustified discrimination, on the basis of age, under the Bill of Rights Act. It later prompted the Government to announce a proposal to Parliament to lower the age.

Lobby group Make It 16, which pursued the court action, said the Supreme Court decision should send politicians a ‘‘strong moral message’’ for change.

However, it is unlikely to pass, with ACT and National already coming out against the move, with the proposal needing at least 75% of Parliament to pass.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she supported lowering the voting age, but National’s justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said its priorities were reducing violent, youth and gang crime, and clearing court backlogs.

ACT leader David Seymour said the Supreme Court should ‘‘stick to its knitting and quit the judicial activism’’.

The Green Party and Te Pāti Mā ori have come out in support of lowering the voting age.

Golriz Ghahraman, the Green Party’s electoral reform spokesperson, said it was an exciting day for New Zealand’s democracy.

‘‘To have any group as big as this have their fundamental human rights declared so strongly by our highest court, it’s an absolute testament to the strength of this movement led by young people.’’

Make It 16 leadership member Caeden Tipler said outside the court the campaign had been an ‘‘uphill battle’’ and acknowledged there was more work to.

Tipler still hoped the voting age would be lowered by the 2023 election.

‘‘It is not a matter of if we will lower the voting age, it is when we lower the voting age.’’

The group has twice before – in the High Court and the Court of Appeal – been turned down for the declaration of inconsistency with the Bill of Rights.

And the Supreme Court said while the Crown had not justified the age limit yet, it could later show it to be justified.

Parliament could take into account other matters to ensure whatever happened had the necessary democratic legitimacy, Justice Ellen France said summarising the court’s decision.

Former Labour Prime Minister and constitutional law scholar Sir Geoffrey Palmer said the court decision was a ‘‘progressive and important [step] to make out democracy more robust’’.

One of the judges, Justice Stephen Kos, disagreed in part with the other four judges. He would have made the declaration in relation to local elections but not parliamentary elections because he said it was entrenched at 18 for voting for parliament. It amounted to an exception to the right to be free from age discrimination, he said.

However, The Future for Local Government Review is already considering the option of lowering the voting age for local body elections. Its draft report recommends lowering the voting age to 16 for local body elections. The review has invited submissions on its proposals before February 2023.

‘‘It is not a matter of if we will lower the voting age, it is when we lower the voting age.’’

Caeden Tipler

Make IT 16 leadership member