Ignore our Young at your peril says Maori Party

te-pati-maori

Fri Oct 24 2008 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Ignore our Young at your peril says Maori Party

Friday, 24 October 2008, 4:29 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party

Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki

Friday 24 October 2008

The Maori Party is calling on all political parties to lift their game in respects of young New Zealanders.

"Every party should be concerned that 22% of 18 -to-24 year olds may miss out on the opportunity to vote" says Maori Party MP for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell.

The Electoral Enrolment Centre recently announced that 89,000 potential voters in this age group have still not enrolled.

"That's one in five of our young people who are at risk of being left behind this election" said Flavell.

"This caps off a bad week in terms of the nation's performance in responding to the needs of our youth" said Flavell.

"We're challenging every party this election to ' rock the vote ' - to lift the vote for our rangatahi - and to carry that same commitment to our young people into the next Government, to uphold the fortunes of those who carry the hopes and dreams for our future".

* Deterioration in Relative Incomes

This week the OECD report, 'Growing Unequal: Income distribution and poverty in OECD countries' revealed that New Zealand was in a group of only six nations where youths aged 18 to 25 years had recorded a much larger deterioration in relative incomes of around 10 points or more (the other countries were Denmark, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Turkey).

* Youth Unemployment Rates

Maori and Pacific youth unemployment rates at 22.5% for Maori youth and 20.7% for Pasifika youth; remain well above that of European youth (11.7%). (Household Labour Force Survey; youth defined as 15-19 years)

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* Declining Completion rates - Tertiary education

In another report, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2008, we learnt that in 2005, more than 46% of students who entered tertiary programmes in New Zealand left without tertiary qualifications, which is far higher than the OECD average of 31%.

The report describes shows the proportion of students who enter a tertiary programme and leave without at least a first tertiary degree.

ENDS

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