Poll: Should our voting age be lowered to 16?
On Monday, 21 November, the Supreme Court ruled that preventing 16 and 17-year-olds from voting is 'unjustified age discrimination'.
The current age of voting is 18 in New Zealand and lobby group Make It 16 have been running a youth-led campaign advocating for the vote to be extended to our 16 and 17-year-olds.
“This is history,” said Make It 16 co-director Caeden Tipler. “Today New Zealand’s highest court has confirmed that stopping young people from voting is a breach of our human rights...The government and Parliament cannot ignore such a clear legal and moral message. They must let us vote.”
Share your thoughts below - these may be published in the We Say You Say column of the local papers.
-
13.9% Yes - they should be allowed to vote
-
3.7% Maybe - I need more information
-
3.2% It doesn't bother me either way
-
79.2% No - I don't agree with this
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Would you like a free copy of our February 2025 issue?
Kia ora neighbours. We give away free copies to readers whose recipes are used in our magazine. We're still on the hunt for tomato recipes, so send your family's favourite way to use up your homegrown harvest, to: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. If we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of the mag