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Speaker 1: Hastings District Council. Interesting, it's this afternoon voted to allow

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Speaker 1: unelected members of its Youth Council to have votes in

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Speaker 1: council decisions. So the kids will be allowed to vote

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Speaker 1: in council committees and council subcommittees and they'll be paid.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: The council was divided on this, seven voted for it

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Speaker 1: and seven voted against it, but ultimately the mayor had

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Speaker 1: the casting vote and the mayor voted for it. Chris

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Speaker 1: Proctor is the Youth Council chair.

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Speaker 3: Hay Ris, Hi, there are you?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 2: Thank you?

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Speaker 1: How much are you getting paid.

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Speaker 3: At the stage. I've only got a partner, un job

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Speaker 3: at a cafe.

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Speaker 1: No man for the for the council work.

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Speaker 2: Look, they vote today actually didn't confirm anything. It said

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Speaker 2: that councils have now got the ability to potentially give us.

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Speaker 3: Votes at only the first step of the stage. Nothing,

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Speaker 3: nothing's happening.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, So I heard it's about five hundred bucks

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Speaker 1: per meeting that you would get paid. Is that correct?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 2: If I can give you some context for that, the

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Speaker 2: Youth Council, at the beginning of this process, we never

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Speaker 2: intended for remuneration.

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Speaker 3: Many we're not We're not here for ammuneration. That's not

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Speaker 3: our purpose.

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Speaker 2: But council officers informed us that it would be against

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Speaker 2: council values to treat people differently that.

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Speaker 3: Are working on those committees, and ultimately.

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Speaker 2: That's the decision we respect, and we said that the

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Speaker 2: conversations that happened in the next couple of weeks they will

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Speaker 2: determine whether we get remunerated or not.

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Speaker 3: But we've made a position.

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Speaker 1: Reking there and how many of you are there?

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Speaker 3: There are seventeen of us use counselors.

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Speaker 1: How much seven did you just say? Seventeen?

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Speaker 2: Seventeen of us youth counselors. But at this stage there

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Speaker 2: will be one use counselor on the scent on the

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Speaker 2: episode committees.

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Speaker 1: Yep, okay, so only only one of you would be

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Speaker 1: being paid, not seventeen.

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Speaker 3: Oh gosh, no, no, no, actually.

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Speaker 1: And how many meetings would this one person attend in a.

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Speaker 2: Year and a year for standing committees, there is about

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Speaker 2: four meetings a year and they last for roughly around

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Speaker 2: five to six hours.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so about two thousand.

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Speaker 2: Bucks a year potentially if the counselors, as the.

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Speaker 1: Councilors agree, okay, why why why should there be a

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Speaker 1: youth counselor who has voting rights that's a really good

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Speaker 1: christ and is paid for it.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, that is a really good question. I've to give

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Speaker 3: you a little bit of context.

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Speaker 2: Youth counselor's got the ability to sit on council subcommittees

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty and were the first council and is

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Speaker 2: to have the ability to do that.

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Speaker 3: And there's.

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Speaker 2: Examples of unelected members with voting parts who are remutiated

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Speaker 2: across the country, which in Hastings specifically, we have the

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Speaker 2: Tacot nor Mold Extending Committee. They are unelected members and

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Speaker 2: they have voting rights in their committees.

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Speaker 1: And now the youth.

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Speaker 3: What was that? Sorry? And now the youth yes, now we.

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Speaker 1: Were okay, So why but why why should If I

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Speaker 1: was if I was a rate payer at Hastings and

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Speaker 1: was not stoked about having to pay someone else to

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Speaker 1: do a job, how would you sell it to me

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Speaker 1: that you need to do this job like I have

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Speaker 1: got to pay you to do this job. Why?

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Speaker 3: Look, we've never intended for remuneration. That's never been way.

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Speaker 1: I know that. But you are going to get it, really,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to get it obviously, so why

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Speaker 1: should you be doing this job?

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Speaker 2: We want to bring a voice to the council table,

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Speaker 2: and we want to make sure that in areas like

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Speaker 2: Flexmen in New Zealand and flex Me in Hastings, there

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Speaker 2: is almost fifty percent of the population under the age

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Speaker 2: of twenty five, and we feel that it's important, especially

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Speaker 2: for we have really really low by the turnout in

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Speaker 2: this under twenty five category. And that's the actue that

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Speaker 2: we set out to solve. And if we can get

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Speaker 2: someone on a council committee and a young person sees

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Speaker 2: them on there and they see they have input and

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Speaker 2: altogether this is going to have such a small impact

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Speaker 2: on the overhe why don't.

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Speaker 1: They just run? I mean, this is an unelected position.

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Speaker 1: Why don't they just run for council?

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Speaker 3: There is under over eighteen.

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Speaker 2: There's very small numbers of people who are eighteen nineteen

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Speaker 2: twenty who actually counts in New Zealand, and there is

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Speaker 2: an overpresentation of not young people and so we want

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Speaker 2: to make sure that we want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: there is an ability for us to have some sort

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Speaker 2: of some sort of voice in that process. And it's

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Speaker 2: a it's a small change for us we already sit

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Speaker 2: on the committee. Yeah, and yeah, whether the remuneration goes

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Speaker 2: through or not, that it's not.

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Speaker 3: Up to what are you? I'm steven ten years of age.

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Speaker 1: Okay, do you own a house?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: I didn't pay rates?

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Speaker 3: No I do not?

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Speaker 1: Okay and yeah, so how good are you with money

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Speaker 1: if you don't own a house and pay rates and bills?

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Speaker 3: Look, I want to make really clear that the decision. Yes,

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Speaker 3: I do have saving.

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Speaker 1: How much have you got?

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Speaker 3: I don't want to discuss much.

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Speaker 1: That's the right answer. I could not answer it. You

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Speaker 1: see why why this may be. I think this is

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Speaker 1: a bitter pill to swallow, to be honest with you,

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Speaker 1: if I was a thing's rate payer and I've just

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Speaker 1: been told i'm paying tweet, what did you What was

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Speaker 1: your rate increase? Was it nineteen or twenty five percent?

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Speaker 3: That's a stage that increase over three years?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and what was it?

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Speaker 3: I'm not actually sure.

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Speaker 1: I think it was learn that. But if it's like

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Speaker 1: nineteen or twenty five percent or something, it's astronomical like that,

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Speaker 1: which is somewhere around there. And I was just told

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Speaker 1: that I am now going to have to listen to

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Speaker 1: the opinion of a young person who doesn't even own

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Speaker 1: their own house or pay the bills. I think I

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Speaker 1: might not be totally cool with that. What do you think?

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Speaker 3: I agree with you completely right.

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Speaker 2: Disagrees have been huge for communities, and that's why we've

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Speaker 2: always said we don't want to be paid council offices

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Speaker 2: and formulatt's against council values and we have to accept

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Speaker 2: that position.

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Speaker 1: I think you're kind of missing my point. My point

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Speaker 1: is I don't actually even want you to have say

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Speaker 1: not because I don't like you. You sound like a

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Speaker 1: really smart like you're going places. You're obviously super smart,

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Speaker 1: but you're seventeen years old, mate, I don't care what

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Speaker 1: you think. Like, that's kind of how a lot of

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Speaker 1: ratepayers are going to think.

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Speaker 3: Right, that's the fair position to have.

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Speaker 2: That depends on it depends on what the majority thinks

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Speaker 2: then in this case, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris, thank you. I really appreciate you having a

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Speaker 1: chat to us, and I do really mean it. You

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Speaker 1: are going to go places, Chris Procter, the youth council

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Speaker 1: chair was nineteen percent, So I don't know how you

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Speaker 1: feel about that, Hastings, but at nineteen percent rate increases,

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Speaker 1: i'd be expecting my counsel to try to find ways

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Speaker 1: to save money, not find ways to spend more money

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Speaker 1: on stuff that does literally nothing. Sixteen past four

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