Mayor gives unelected 15 year olds a vote on Council

The Taxpayers Union points out:

The Taxpayers’ Union is telling Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst to ‘grow up’ after she used her casting vote to give committee voting rights, and a salary, to members of the Hastings District Youth Council: school-aged kids. …

“Let’s get real. It’s a thinly-veiled move by left-leaning councillors to stack council committees with even more idealism and inexperience. Using kids for political leverage needs to be called out for what it is.”

“It’s also undemocratic. These children have no democratic mandate or accountability. It’s a blatant attempt to ‘screw the scrum’ by cynical politicians and grifters.”

“Local government is in crisis and instead of the adults prevailing, Mayor Hazlehurst is inviting kids with, at best, year 10 business studies, to cast votes on governance matters of an organisation with total assets of nearly three billion.”

So ratepayers will be funding salaries and costs for 15 year olds to sit and vote on Council committees. And people wonder why there is such disillusionment with local government.

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