More Labour cowardice

When the Supreme Court ruled that Aotearoa's voting age was unjustifiably discriminatory, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised to introduce a bill to fix it. Now, Labour looks set to break that promise:

The commitment of former prime minister Jacinda Ardern to introduce a bill to lower the voting age looks likely to be wound back.

While Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is yet to confirm it’s over, comments from officials and Justice Minister Kiritapu Allan on Tuesday indicated it was one of the policies felled in Hipkins’ policy cull.

[...]

Responses form both Allan and Andrew Kibblewhite​, the Secretary for Justice, indicated the Government was backing off from work on the bill entirely, when they were asked about the legislation on Tuesday.

Which is another example of Labour's fundamental cowardice and its lack of any convictions other than that they should be getting the big salaries for being in charge. Meanwhile, come election time, they'll be demanding the services of young volunteers to help them get out the vote. Those volunteers should send Labour a simple message: no work without political representation. And they should go and help a party which supports them, like the Greens, rather than one which simply wishes to exploit them while denying them a voice.

Meanwhile, if you're angry about this and want Parliament to do its job and amend the law to be consistent with the BORA, the Justice Committee is currently holding an inquiry into the declaration of inconsistency. Details on how to submit (and what to say) are here.