With a population of just over 7,000, the small Coromandel town Thames has been known as a haven for retirees, but for young people starting out, the opportunities are scarce.
So a group of rangatahi have taken control to redesign their future through an initiative called the Thames Rangatahi Advisory Panel (T-RAP).
T-RAP includes young people aged between 12 and 24 and aims to provide a space for youth-orientated events, mentoring and community involvement.
T-RAP leader Absalom Turoa says one of the biggest struggles for rangatahi in Thames is the “lack of opportunities” so T-RAP recently held a youth conference inviting young people from across the region to hear from influential speakers including Te Pāti Māori member Hana Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke.
“The purpose of today was to make sure the rangatahi in our area who might not have the opportunity to hear from important people, to hear from important people. So being able to hear the knowledge that the speakers had today is not only inspiring for them, but also something that is obtainable. It personalises the people that they see online into real people.”
The push to lower the voting age
With national elections approaching next year, political participation was a major topic of the conference.
During her speech Maipi-Clarke spoke about her plans to campaign to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.
“We’re looking at lowering the voting age and having civics taught in schools. That shows how we can integrate politics and make sure our rangatahi have that communication stream between their decisions and in places like parliament.”
Last election statistics showed an increase in young voters. The turnout of enrolled voters aged 18 to 24 was 74 per cent above 25 to 44 year olds.
At the conference Members of T-RAP were all in support of lowering the voting age.
Turoa said, “If decisions are being made for rangatahi that young, then they deserve to have a say in it too.”
T-Rap member Olivia Kororia said, “Young people are the ones who are going to take the brunt of whatever decisions are being made… So I think if we give them the opportunity now to put their opinions towards these decisions, then that would help.”
Social media ban – rangatahi say it won’t work
The government’s proposal to ban social media for under sixteens was one of the hottest topics of the day.
It comes after Australia initiated the ban for 16-year-olds using social media on December 10 to protect them from cyberbullying, exploitation and mental health harms.
Rangatahi from T-RAP didn’t support the ban in Aotearoa.
“Even if that happened, I don’t know how you’d control it,” Kororia said. “You can just lie about your date of birth.”
Absalom believes the issue starts at home.
“As much as they could ban it, it still comes down to what’s happening at home. If it’s acceptable there, kids will do it anyway.”
While social media is often blamed for rising mental health issues, Absalom says education, not bans, is the answer, especially when it comes to teaching self-confidence.
“If we teach kids super young that they’re beautiful and can be confident in who they are, then when they get older and see things online, they know it’s not true.”
Former principal and relational neuroscience educator Jase Williams, who was also a speaker at the conference, agreed. While he understands social media has caused harm, it is in fact a “lifeline” for rangatahi.
“I know there are people in that space that will go and say, ‘But the research and evidence is saying’, but the kids that are saying that this is their lifeline, they are the research and evidence and no one’s actually giving them that voice. And the voice that no one really wants to talk about is that social media is not the enemy.”
Challenging stereotypes and rebuilding mana
T-RAP is supported by kaitāmiro Tina Paki and Ro Mitchell Te Teira from Ngāti Maru Rūnanga.
They formed the group during a time when rangatahi in the town were facing intense public scrutiny. A spate of ram raids by a small number of young people led to sweeping assumptions that all local youth were trouble.
“It came out of a time where ram raiding was quite a big thing,” said Paki of Ngāti Maru. “Some of our rangatahi were getting involved. We wanted to shine a positive light on them again.”
After leaving school is another challenge for rangatahi is finding employment. According to Statistics NZ, almost 16 percent of those aged 18 to 24 in Thames are unemployed, just over the national average. It’s a lot higher than New Zealand official unemployment rate 5.2 per cent. Turoa is a former case manager at Work and Income.
“I noticed like a massive influx of 18-year-olds that would jump into a benefit instead of looking towards something else. So if there was something instead that there was like a transitional thing maybe from high school to maybe not uni, something more accessible, something that’s not so as scary as tertiary study.”
Since T-RAP has started rangatahi attitudes in the community towards youth have changed to being more positive, said Paki, and young people are being provided more opportunities for their future.
“The more that they know, the more that they can make an informed decision. And I think that’s probably the most important thing for a rangatahi when they’re growing up and get faced with really hard choices. If they know more the choices that they make, they can be more confident,” said Turoa.
T-RAP will host more events in the new year.
