Youth Policy Index

Education

Inclusion and accessibility

Tertiary

Curriculum review

Young people's voice

Increase funding for learning support services, shift from decile funding system to "risk" based model where funding follows "high risk" students.

Increase funding to private tertiary institutions, monitor tertiary institutions more closely, make funding more flexible so the tertiary market can self regulate.

More asian language options.

National have just launched a Youth Advisory Group and online forum for young people to feed into the big picture of education policy.

Increase support for the effective implementation of Individual Education Plans for disabled students.

Provide everyone with three years of free post-school education, "increase" support for study over time, Consider writing off student loans in exchange for work in areas of skill shortage.

See civics.

No relevant policy available.

Free public transport for school aged children and students.

Increase student support, including accommodation allowance and adjustment of allowance. A range of scholarships for international travel and 'first in family' tertiary study.

Te Reo Māori compulsory part of curriculum + civics.

No relevant policy available.

Open more Partnership Schools.

Allow State and Integrated Schools to voluntarily apply for Partnership School status, giving those schools who want it the same flexibilities enjoyed by Partnership Schools.

Increase the government funding of Independent (private) Schools.

No relevant policy available.

Targeted review of and increase in funding for special needs provision.

Fully fund courses that address current skill shortages.

Yes.

Enhance student engagement by funding a long-term programme to build capacity for student voice in the sector.

Every young person has access to education that is responsive, flexible, assessable and culturally appropriate, funding increases to schools so they don't have to charge families.

Reduce tertiary fees until tertiary education is free, introduce a universal student allowance over time, free travel, allowance reinstated for postgraduate study.

Yes.

Young people must be encouraged and supported to take on positions of responsibility and decision making.

Improve coordination between the health and education systems for people with special needs.

Review the tertiary education sector with a focus on promoting lifelong learning.

Yes.

No relevant policy available.

Support schools to become safe and inclusive environments for all students (special mention of LGBTIQIA+ students).

No relevant policy available.

Encourage networks and co-operation between tertiary providers and industry to ensure that skills taught are relevant and required in the future labour market.

No relevant policy available.

Health and Wellbeing

Youth suicide specifically addressed

Provision / accessibility of youth specific services

Mental health

LGBTIQ+ health

Māori health

No.

No relevant policy available.

Continue to adopt a social investment approach to mental health, continue to pilot a social bonds programme to help people with a mental illness into work, continue a programme to improve the quality and consistency of mental health services, continue to pilot mental health initiatives for prisoners and offenders.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

Extend School Based Health Services to all public secondary schools so all schools have a comprehensive youth health service.

Pilot mental health teams in high demand areas.

Provide targeted suicide prevention funding to build capacity of rainbow community support organisations and mainstream crisis support and services, and increase resourcing for youth mental health.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

Set up mental health youth workers in secondary schools, expand the Rangatahi Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Fund kaupapa Māori based suicide prevention, support and education programmes.

No relevant policy available.

Fund kaupapa Māori based suicide prevention, support and education programmes.

No.

No relevant policy available.

Increase support for people with physical or mental conditions.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

Introduce the Teen Health Check Bill to require DHBs to make provision for health checks on all Year 9 students and other measures to ensure no young person enters secondary school with health problems likely to be a barrier to their learning. additional resourcing for child and youth mental health services.

Increase funding for mental health services, support the nationwide use of the ‘HEADSS’ holistic assessment of Year 9 students to identify individual areas of concern and trends within these learners within communities, regions and across the country.

No relevant policy available.

Yes. (‘Vision Zero’ plan to reduce youth suicide)

Extend free doctor visits to people under the age of 18.

Inquiry into mental health system. Increase in funding for mental health. Ensure the inclusion of comprehensive health, sex and drug education at intermediate and secondary levels in order to educate students about the negative effects of anti-social or "risk-taking" behaviour and to discourage students from abusing legal or illegal substances.

Support a partnership with schools and "rainbow" youth organisations to reduce the unacceptably high level of suicide and drug abuse among youth. Support human rights education as a core part of the curriculum. Protect the interests and identity of rainbow (including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students in schools and tertiary institutions.

Yes.

The status of health as a taonga to Māori must be recognised.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

No relevant policy available.

Increase funding for mental health services, increase the number of community-based mental health workers, fund research into mental health.

Diverse and inclusive throughout their policies.

No relevant policy available.

Employment and Opportunity

Income support for young people

Employment has specific youth focus (rather than employer driven perspective)

Pathways into work

Explicit connections between education and employment policies

Youth renumeration

Increase payments for students’ accommodation costs, continue to fund young entrepreneurship initiatives, increase in homestart grant value for first home buyers.

Guaranteed work experience or training for those on a benefit for longer than 6 months, along with financial management training.

Continue partnering with The Warehouse to give young people unpaid work experience.

No relevant policy available.

Increase payments for accommodation costs, offer cash grants to selected young people to start new businesses.

Aim to reduce unemployment to 4 per cent in their first term, (specific focus on YP).

Provide community work jobs for young people who have been unemployed for more than six months.

Provide every secondary school student with a personalised career plan

Raise the minimum wage to $16.50 per hour and abolish the youth wage, replace the 90 day trial period with a free referee service for unjustified dismissal claims.

Universal student allowance, write off the living cost component of all student loans, provide low interest business start-up loans for rangatahi entrepreneurs.

No relevant policy available.

Provide unemployed young people with six months paid work experience.

Expand Passport to Life to every rangatahi aged 17 to 20 years to ensure they leave college with a driver’s licence, a bank account, an IRD number and a curriculum vitae.

No relevant policy available.

Subsidise apprenticeships for unemployed young people, increase funding for careers education.

No relevant policy available.

Provide community work jobs for unemployed young people. Place at-risk young people with the army for job training.

Yes.

Raise the minimum wage to $17 per hour and abolish the youth wage.

Reintroduce a benefit for unsupported unemployed and sick young people aged 16 and 17.

Support the introduction of an optional "gap year" doing a range of environmentally and socially constructive projects, to aid young people in their transition between school and further education and employment. Increase benefits by 20 per cent, allow student loan borrowers to defer student loan repayments to save for a home deposit.

Young people should receive equal pay for work of equal value.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

Raise the minimum wage to $17.75 per hour and abolish the youth wage.

$200 UBI (Unconditional Basic Income) for young people aged 18-23.

No relevant policy available.

Yes.

No relevant policy available.

Use reparations, electronic monitoring and work on community projects (e.g. removing graffiti, house construction) as initial sentencing options for youth offenders, established through contracts drawn up between the police, the offender and their family, and backed up by harsher supervision for compliance failures.

No relevant policy available.

Political Participation

Environment

Health

Housing

Education

Rainbow issues

Overall (sum above)

Overall for Political Participation

2.8

6.6

1.4

6.2

8.6

2.8

We've used U-Report's polling about the issues young people are keen to see debated to determine the indicators. We’ve analysed each party’s response to these issues that young people have raised and rated how well young people’s strengths and rights are being responded to in terms of policy. Then we’ve aggregated these ratings up into an overall score.

Civic Participation

No relevant policy available.

Continue to fund community-based youth development programmes through partnership fund.

No relevant policy available.

Civics education.

Work with the sector to establish long-term funding cycles and transparent processes, ensure that community organisations can engage in advocacy without fear of losing government contracts or their charitable status, recognise the role of volunteers in building a resilient community and nation.

No relevant policy available.

The Māori Party would like to see civics education made a compulsory area of learning so all New Zealand children understand the relevance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the constitutional basis for our nation. Government policies impact on almost every aspect of their daily lives. (Te Ururoa Flavell, 2014)

Target investments in waka ama, kapa haka clubs, community, regional and national rangatahi leadership hui. Set up community-based Māori Innovation and Entrepreneurship hubs.

No relevant policy available.

Vehemently opposed to civics education.

No relevant policy available.

Civics is a possible outcome of Education Sector Hui.

No relevant policy available.

Ensure young people are represented or have a voice on local body committees / community boards.

Civics education integrated into curriculum.

Create and enact a best practice model for funding and accountability relationships.

Inferred through policies.

Ensuring citizens know their rights through civics education and strong public interest journalism.

No relevant policy available.

Ensure that young New Zealanders understand their civic rights and responsibilities by introducing "compulsory and comprehensive" civics education.

Create a fund to bring disadvantaged students to Wellington.

No relevant policy available.