MPs have been debating whether to lower the voting age for local council elections to 16 years of age from the current age of 18.
MPs have been debating whether to lower the voting age for local council elections to 16 years of age from the current age of 18.
Debate on lowering the voting age immediately followed debate on a Declaration of Inconsistency. That stems from a Supreme Court ruling nine months ago that voting laws are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act on the basis of age discrimination.
As a response to that court ruling, the Justice Minister Ginny Andersen this week explained why the Government has decided to focus on lowering the voting age for local elections only.
"The bill reflects the differences between how the voting age is set out in legislation. The provisions of the Electoral Act that set the voting age at 18 for parliamentary elections can only be amended if 75 percent of members in the House agree or there is a majority in a referendum."
Andersen said that preparing and progressing a bill that would have no prospect of being passed into law at this point would be a waste of time and money "that would not lead to any practical change".
"In contrast, the voting age for local government elections can be amended by a simple majority. That is why the Government has decided to focus on a bill that lowers the voting age to 16 for local elections only. I hope that members will take a rights and evidence - based approach to the future debate on this bill. We stand here as representatives of all our constituents, not just the ones that are eligible to vote for us," she said.
Simon Court
This was the first time that this Parliament debated a Declaration of Inconsistency between legislation and the fundamental rights in the Bill of Rights Act. Last year Parliament unanimously agreed on what should happen when one of the higher courts find legislation to be inconsistent with fundamental rights. They declare an inconsistency - and Parliament and the Government need to go back and discuss that.
Court balance
As the ACT Party's Simon Court pointed out, Parliament makes laws and is sovereign in its decision making. According to him, inconsistencies with the Bill of Rights Act were not uncommon and that "much legislation is introduced to Parliament that is not consistent with the bill of rights".
"Where it is inconsistent, the Ministry of Justice provides a report to Parliament, called a bill of rights assessment. A bill of rights compliance report is often provided where a piece of legislation infringes on rights that are set out, but for good reason, but it's always up to Parliament to balance what that reason is," Court said…