New Zealand Young Nationals


The New Zealand Young Nationals, more commonly called the Young Nats, is the youth wing of the New Zealand National Party, a centre-right political party in New Zealand, and a member of the International Young Democrat Union.

History

The National Party has had a youth section since its inception in 1936, and are a constituted youth wing of the National Party. The Young Nationals have been a strong lobby group inside the National Party, and often at the forefront of policy development being representative as a Core Group or a Policy Action Group of the party at varying times. For a short period during the party's earlier years there was a younger section of the National party for pre-teenage members but has since disappeared due to the changing environment of New Zealand politics and society.
Prior to the group being named the Young Nationals, the New Zealand National Party's Youth section was known as the Junior Nationals. In the lead up to the 1949 election, the Wellington branch had 3,500 members and the Auckland branch consisted of 2,500 members. The group hosted a number of community events such as dances, parties, debating/discussion, and Lectures/addresses. In 1967 the group voted to change the name to the Young Nationals as Junior Nationals was seen to have potentially negative connotations. This renamed group attracted members for political reasons rather than social activities like its predecessor. In 1968 the National Party agreed to for two Young Nationals to sit on the party's Dominion Council. 1971 brought upon Young Nationals creating political discussion groups called 'Pol Link's' which enabled the group to research and discuss political issues allowing the National Party to understand the contemporary issues of young generations. In 2015 the Young Nationals claimed to have over 20,000 likes on their Facebook page and over 6,000 official members.

Structure

In 2009, under major changes led by the organisation's governing executive, the Young Nationals were re-organised to serve as a more effective tool for policy activism and campaign activity.

Regional Teams

As of 2011, The Young Nationals are divided into five regions nationwide:
Each of these regions are headed by their own Chair and executive group and supervised by a National Executive, elected annually during the National Party Conference.
Some regions of the Young Nationals also may have branches. These include the Alfred Street Young Nationals, which are based in Auckland and considered a counter group to the Princes Street Labour movement and VicNats which is based around Victoria University. In 2011, the Young Nationals celebrated 75 years as New Zealand's oldest and largest political youth movement.

National Team

The National Executive, are made up of elected members across New Zealand who, set the agenda and leadership for the Young Nationals during the year. There are currently 12 members. They are made of a:

Regional Events

Throughout the year each of the five Regions teams have a range of social events. These include, but are not limited to, coffee catch ups with MPs, Social drinks and pub quizzes. Events are usually centred around the academic timetables of the universities in the regions. Additionally, regions will often host Christmas parties and Policy-based events.

Balls

From time to time the Young Nationals have organised balls. These balls are often held in Auckland and are open to members and non-members alike. The most recent ball was in 2018.

Young Nats Leadership Conference

In 2018, The Young Nationals re-commenced the Young Nats Conference. This conference is an opportunity for members from across the country to network, discuss policy issues and learn to campaign. In 2018, the Conference was held in Nelson, and was followed by a conference in Wellington in 2019 and Queenstown in 2020.

Policies

Often the more liberal views of the Young Nationals have been at odds with those of the wider party. The shift in party opinion in areas such as the nuclear ships debate, economic reform, liquor law reform, and anti-discrimination laws has often been influenced by the Young Nationals.

Drug Policy

Alcohol

The Young Nationals, in conjunction with other New Zealand political party youth wings, support the current purchase age for alcohol of 18 years. The Young Nationals lobbied the government in 2012 to keep the drinking age at 18 when the Sale and Supply of Liquor Act Amendment Bill was put by parliament. The Bill successfully passed. This position was reaffirmed in 2018.

Pill Testing

In late 2019, the Young Nationals moved to support pill testing at festivals and concerts. The Young Nationals noted that the position was in support of harm reduction, not a motion in support of drug use.

Education

Polytechnic Autonomy

The National Party opposes the merging of Regional Polytechnics as legislated by the Sixth Labour Government of New Zealand. The Young Nationals have also supported this position publicly on the basis that polytechnics maintain regional autonomy and polytechnics maintain their assets.

Voluntary Student Unionism

The Young Nationals have lobbied the New Zealand Government to adopt and pass legislation that would move tertiary Students’ Associations to a system of voluntary membership. Currently, Student Union membership is compulsory in New Zealand for most university students. The Young Nationals, in conjunction with ACT on Campus, Free Me and other New Zealanders, were successful in winning select committee and subsequently government support to pass a private member's Bill by ACT MP Heather Roy to introduce voluntary membership to student associations in tertiary institutions. The Bill, Education Amendment, was passed into law in September 2011, and took effect in 2012

Employment

The Young Nationals support the creation of an income tax free threshold to assist individuals with the rising cost of living and the re-implementation of 90-day trial periods to increase youth employment.

Environment

The Young Nationals have supported the Zero Carbon Act since 2017 and have lobbied the National Party to support it since then. The Young Nationals have also supported the continuation of a green investment fund and the Implementation of a nationwide riparian management scheme.

Health Care

Mental Health

The Young Nationals, as part of their 2020 Policy Platform, support the creation of a contestable mental health first aid training fund to assist those seeking to undertake mental health first aid training programmes in New Zealand and the establishment of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. The Young Nationals were credited by the National Party for their idea on mental health first aid and assistance in early intervention measures. In 2019, the President of the Young Nationals, Sam Stead, and Policy Chair, Andrew Mahoney, presented both in writing and in person their positions on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission to the Health Select Committee.

Sanitary Products in Schools

The Young Nationals support free provision of sanitary items in New Zealand schools.

LGBT Rights

The Young Nationals supported the legalisation of same-sex marriage in New Zealand, with members lobbying MPs for this change. The Young Nationals support the banning of gay conversion therapy following membership consultation on the issue after Young Labour and the Young Greens petitioned for a ban.

Presidents

List of presidents of the Young Nationals:

Former members

A number of other former members have taken up prominent roles across a number of sectors, such as Phil O'Reilly as CEO of Business New Zealand, John Marshall QC as President of the New Zealand Law Society and Paul Matheson as Mayor of Nelson.