Youth Parliament censorship extends to the Press Gallery

Youth Parliament is a youth engagement event organised by the Ministry of Youth Development, or MYD. It runs every three years, in accordance with each parliamentary term. 2025’s Youth Parliament marks its 11th event, with the first one being held in 1994. 

143 youth from around Aotearoa were chosen, 20 of which represent the Youth Press Gallery. 

As part of the five-month tenure, Press Gallery members are instructed to write profiles on selected Youth MPs to spread awareness on the work they do in their respective constituencies. This also involves reporting on the events over the two days Youth Parliament is sitting on the from July 1st-2nd.  

Gallery members were initially encouraged to seek out external media outlets by MYD, citing the importance of reporting parliament-related issues to members of the public. 

2025’s Youth Parliament has been overshadowed by media controversy. Youth MPs are claiming the organisers have been censoring explicit criticism of the government in general debate speeches, enforcing the non-partisan nature of the event.  

One Youth MP, who chose to remain anonymous, made a speech during the first debate session said a lot had changed from the first draft.  

“Every time I referenced a specific organisation, they changed it to ‘system’, it got to the point where I said ‘system’ three times in one sentence.”  

“I had to rewrite mine three times”, another, also anonymous, Youth MP said. 

When members of the Youth Press Gallery tried to report on the events of the first day, such as a walkout in protest to content in a controversial speech and the reported censorship, articles were put on hold to be ‘all-cleared’ by organisers.  

Youth Press Gallery members are frustrated by the lack of transparency, saying having to wait and seeing other media outlets get there first takes away the whole point of them reporting on Youth Parliament.  

One member reflects on how this waiting process stressed them out, saying being held back while facing the pressures of fast paced journalism reduced them to tears.  

“This was a school day where we had this email chain, I actually broke down crying in my last day of class because this was meant to be my big break.” and it felt to them that, “I’m missing my chance to get published because of Youth Parliament.” 

Minister for Youth James Meager says no Youth MP speeches had been censored. “Youth MPs are given feedback on their speeches, and in some cases, amendments are suggested, but the Ministry has been consistently clear to all Youth MPs that they make the final decision about the content of their speech.” 

Meager says the reviews of articles come from a place of protecting young people. “This includes ensuring things they say and publish aren’t defamatory, unethical, in breach of the programme’s Code of Conduct etc. They will offer advice and suggestions about how to stay safe and within the bounds of the law, but ultimately what Youth Press Gallery members choose to write and say is up to them. The Ministry does their best to keep all participants safe while in the programme.” 

Labour and Green Youth MP say their respective Parliamentarians told them to carry on with their unedited general debate speeches for the second round of speeches on July 2nd. Many Youth MPs went ahead with this, some rewriting and entirely reangling their speech topic to comment on the censorship controversy.  

Labour and Green Youth MP say their respective Parliamentarians told them to carry on with their unedited general debate speeches for the second round of speeches on July 2nd. Many Youth MPs went ahead with this, some rewriting and entirely reangling their speech topic to comment on the censorship controversy.  

Another NZ First Youth MP delivered a controversial speech on the same topic as their peer, sparking controversy when discussing race-based scholarships. 

Instead of walking out like the day prior, several Youth MPs removed their cultural garlands and a Tino Rangatiratanga flag was draped over the edge of the gallery. Throughout the speech, around a dozen point of orders were called by Youth MPs all over the chamber. 

Each was taken and heard by the presiding Speaker of the House until they began disrupting the flow of the general debate session, where the Speaker had to carry on with the NZ First Youth MP speech. 

The final session inside the Debate Chamber gave Youth MPs the opportunity to pose questions to Ministers. They would be able to address one of four Ministers present for the event, including: 

Questions had to be submitted by Youth MPs prior to the event and required to stay on script, a factor that didn’t bode well with some rangatahi in the Chamber.  

Chelsea Reti, Youth MP to Green’s Hūhana Lyndon, attempted to go off script during a question directed to Child Poverty Minister Louise Upston. However, the presiding Speaker of the House told her to revert to the question she had originally submitted a few weeks prior. 

The question she originally sent through read as: 

“Is the Minister aware of the research that shows that lifting tamikiri mokopuna taunga out of poverty requires a holistic approach that addresses systemic barriers and how is the government responding to this research to ensure families are receiving the support they need?”   

She says the night before Oral Question time, she decided to readjust her question to include more specifics that she hoped the Minister would address, changing it to the following: 

“If the majority of tamariki in poverty are Māori and Pasifika, how is the government responding to the research showing that lifting these tamikiri mokopuna taunga out of poverty requires a holistic approach including quality early childhood education, parent and pakeke education, as well as addressing systemic barriers like housing, health access, and racism.”  

Reti thinks the question submission process defeated the point of holding the in-person event at all, “I think the Minister is a very knowledgeable person on the topic I was asking about... I do think all of those Ministers would’ve been able to respond confidently without necessarily having to prepare a lot of words beforehand.” 

Supplementary questions were also removed from the Oral Question process, which Green’s Scott Willis’ Youth MP James Watson says was a way of cutting back on resources and crunching time. “This happens once every three years... We have the time to make space, if we have to add another extra day, do it, because this is the youth voice.” 

While the censorship narrative continued in house, an impromptu press conference was held on the parliament’s steps with Youth MPs affiliated with National, ACT and NZ First. Jerry Wei, Karen Chhour’s Youth MP, claimed that claims of censorship were part of a wider agenda projected by a select group of Youth MPs, “They tend to come from a certain ‘side of the house’.” 

To many participating, including broadcasting student and Gerry Brownlee’s Youth MP Josh Henderson, it seemed like rangatahi voices were being overshadowed by the larger censorship debate, “The media focused on the debate that didn’t need to be had, rather than the debate that was being had... All we heard was a argument for and against censorship, rather than the 80+ arguments for change.”