Today Te Kōti Mana Nui o Aotearoa/the New Zealand Supreme Court will be hearing Make It 16’s claim that preventing 16 and 17 year-olds from voting is unjustified age discrimination and therefore inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.

The Court of Appeal has previously found that the voting age of 18 was age discrimination the Government had failed to justify, but refused to issue a formal declaration of inconsistency. Make It 16 is going to the Supreme Court seeking that declaration.

“This is a significant day for the rights of rangatahi” says Make It 16 co-director Cate Tipler (they/them).

“We are excited that the Supreme Court will be hearing our case. For too long 16 and 17 year-olds like me have been excluded from voting booths. We are here because that is a breach of our human rights.

“It is the Government’s job to justify why they would breach such fundamental rights, and they simply haven’t done that.

“We were frustrated by the Court of Appeal’s judgment. They agreed with us that preventing 16 and 17 year-olds from voting is age discrimination the Government hasn’t justified, but declined to issue a formal declaration. That declaration is what we are here for today.

“If the Supreme Court issues a declaration, it will not overturn the law but it will send a strong moral message to Parliament that this has to change. It will pressure our politicians to look at this serious human rights issue and how a voting age of 16 will uplift and strengthen the voices of young people in Aotearoa. Breaching our human rights just isn’t good enough.

“Regardless of the outcome though, our movement is much bigger than just the courts. We have a petition with nearly 6,000 signatures, the Government has established an electoral law review to look into this issue, and just next week Youth Parliamentarians selected by MPs from all parties will be showing their support for a voting age of 16.

“We also recently handed in an open letter with the signatures of more than 70 local government elected members in support of a voting age of 16 for local elections. It is particularly outrageous that in local elections, due to the ratepayer roll, property owners can vote multiple times, but 16 and 17 year-olds like me can’t even vote once.”

Make It 16 will be holding a press conference at 9:40am before the hearing on the steps of the Supreme Court. Spokespeople will be available all day on request, both on location at the Supreme Court and via phone.

Notes:

The Supreme Court hearing will be on 12 July 2022 from 10am-4pm at the Supreme Court building in Wellington

The Supreme Court has provided a summary of the case (SC14/2022) and the lower courts’ decisions which can be found here: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/Case-synopses/NZSC/20220704-Make-it-16-synopsis.pdf

The case will be live streamed via the supreme court website. You can find the link for the livestream here: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/6-Going-to-Court/calendar/daily-lists/20220712-Supreme-Court-daily-list.pdf

Make It 16 has a petition with nearly 6000 signatures to make the voting age 16 for both local and general elections https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/make-the-voting-age-16

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