Extending universal suffrage to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote was “essentially a matter for Parliament,” a Crown lawyer told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Youth-led lobby group Make It 16 says current voting age of 18 is ageism and in violation of the Bill of Rights†
The Supreme Court retained its decision on whether or not to make a formal statement that the minimum voting age violated the Bill of Rights, and the Crown had failed to justify the inconsistency.
A win for Make It 16 wouldn’t change the law so 16 and 17 year olds could vote, but a statement can further his cause†
READ MORE:
† Make It 16 Minimum Voting Age Case in Supreme Court
† Court of Appeals rejects attempt to lower voting age in NZ
† Why lowering the voting age should be at the top of electoral reform?
† When can the children vote?
Make It 16 acknowledged that the ultimate issue of whether to lower the voting age is a matter for Parliament, the group’s lawyer Jason McHerron told the court on Tuesday.
Crown attorney Austin Powell said the ability to make inconsistent statements is “still in its infancy.”
There was a huge difference in its application to laws made since the Bill of Rights went into effect in 1990 and with knowledge of its provisions, and those like the Electoral Act that set the minimum number of votes in 1974, he said.
MONIQUE FORD/Things
Make it 16 Co-Director Cate Tipler, 16, attended the Supreme Court on Tuesday with dozens of supporters for a statement that the voting age of 18 violates the Bill of Rights Act.
The minimum voting age of 18 was one of the parts of the Electoral Act that could only be changed by a 75% majority of MPs, or more than 50% of the vote in a national poll. Either way, any change needed broad support, Powell said.
The Court of Appeals was right in its decision at an earlier stage in the Make It 16 case, saying that the circumstances justified the court withholding the statement, he said.
Another of the Make It 16 lawyers, Graeme Edgeler, told the court that New Zealand’s law established a “clear limit” of 16 years from which discrimination was to be justified.
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Make It 16 wants a court statement to strengthen its plea for a change in the law to the minimum age to vote. (File photo)
A third lawyer for Make It 16, Emma Moran, said there was no expert evidence as to why 16- and 17-year-olds should be barred from voting, but there was plenty of evidence to support the other side.
Tuesday’s hearing is the third phase of the group’s legal offer†
In October 2020, a Supreme Court judge said: restricting voting to 18-year-olds was a justified restriction on the right not to be subject to age discrimination. Make It 16 appealed the decision.
RNZ
The Make it 16 organization has taken its plea to lower the voting age to the High Court in Wellington.
In December 2021, the Court of Appeal said:rather than a positive finding that age discrimination could not be justified, there was no attempt made for the Attorney General to justify the existing age limit as reasonable in a free and democratic society.
The court declined to issue a statement of inconsistency.
“It is a intense and typically political problem involving the democratic process itself and about which there are different reasonable views,” the court said.
Make It 16 appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.
Paul McCredie/Stuff
The Supreme Court is Make It 16’s last chance in the courts to get a ruling that the voting age of 18 violates the Bill of Rights Act. (File photo)
The The government has announced a review of several aspects of the electoral lawincluding the minimum voting age, to be completed by 2026.
Moran said the review showed that the Make It 16 campaign noticed people.
The minimum age to vote in New Zealand was set at 18 in 1974, before the Bill of Rights Act was passed.