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https://theconversation.com/parliament-now-has-to-justify-keeping-the-voting-age-at-18-its-a-hard-argument-to-make-195009>
"This week’s Supreme Court judgment on lowering New Zealand’s legal voting age
has, at times, been interpreted as some kind of mandate for change. That’s not
quite the case, but the court’s ruling does at least make change a possibility.
What the court has done is accept the claims made by members of the Make It 16
campaign that the current voting age limit of 18 is inconsistent with section
19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Essentially, it found, preventing 16-
and 17-year-olds from voting discriminates against them on the basis of their
age.
The court also accepted that this inconsistency has not been justified. While
that doesn’t mean the age limit cannot be justified, the New Zealand Bill of
Rights (Declarations of Inconsistency) Amendment Bill means legislation can be
found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.
The decision effectively means parliament now has to defend the 18 age limit if
it wants to keep it. However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has already
announced her government will draft a bill to lower the voting age (requiring a
three-quarter majority to pass). She’s also said she personally supports
lowering the voting age.
This rapid shift of the electoral landscape provides a good opportunity to
restate the arguments in favour of lowering the voting age – and to ask whether
retaining the 18 age limit can be justified at all."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
