Office of the Speaker of the NZ House of Representatives
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard

MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday 13 December 2018

Kiwi to join other young MPs at global sustainability conference

This week Azerbaijan will host the fifth Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in their capital city Baku. Hosted jointly by the IPU and the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan, this year’s conference is focused on promoting sustainability to protect the interests of future generations.

The New Zealand Parliament will be represented by Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker.

The IPU is a global organisation of national parliaments and provides a forum for dialogue and knowledge sharing between them. The Global Conference of Youth Parliamentarians was established in 2013 to enhance youth participation in parliaments and provide a youth perspective to the IPU’s work. This will be New Zealand’s third time participating, having sent young MPs to previous conferences in Tokyo in 2015 and Lusaka in 2016.

The Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, said sustainability was a potent theme for the conference, as decisions parliamentarians make now will directly affect the world inherited by today’s young people.

“I am pleased that Mr Walker will be representing our Parliament in Baku. The conference offers a unique platform for young parliamentarians from around the world to engage and learn from one another and I’m sure he’ll gain much from his participation.

“There is a disparity between the global average age of parliamentarians (50 years old) and the growing proportion of the world’s population aged under 25 (42%). This conference provides an opportunity to empower young parliamentarians to develop and pursue outside-the-box sustainable solutions to global challenges.

“This year’s conference doesn’t shy away from the hard issues, with discussion on future-proofing workforces, sustainable resource consumption, and legislating in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. It is our job as parliamentarians to act as kaitiaki for our country, and I am hopeful that ideas generated by those gathered in Baku will help guide us in our endeavour to deliver a sustainable future to our young people.”

The conference runs from 14 to 15 December 2018.

ENDS

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