The majority of Parliament's 120 youth MPs have thrown their support behind voting age lobby group Make It 16, one advocate says.
Youth MP Cate Tipler, who represents Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, told Breakfast the majority of youth MPs this week had signed an open letter calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16.
Tipler, who is also Make It 16's co-director, said Youth Parliament 2022 has been an "incredible experience" to date.
"What's made it amazing is there's been such broad support for Make It 16," they said.
"Lowering the voting age came up consistently throughout general debate and legislative debate speeches.
"The majority of Youth MPs signed onto an open letter calling for Parliament to lower the voting age, which means there was a broad appetite for lowering the voting age at Youth Parliament."
Make It 16 was formed at Youth Parliament 2019 and the lobby group has taken its fight to lower the voting age to the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
It says preventing 16 and 17 year olds from voting is unjustified age discrimination. Teenagers under the age of 18 can join the army, work, drive, pay taxes and leave home - so why can't they vote, Make It 16 asks.
Tipler remarked the Youth MPs who didn't sign the open letter were in the "minority".
"I think what we should be focusing on is the broad support for one issue," they said.
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"It's difficult to get everyone to agree on something and Make It 16 is one of those issues. It got broad support - more than any other issue - at Youth Parliament."
Fellow Youth MP and Make It 16 advocate Ethan Rogacion, who represents Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, said there had been "general concern around civics education" from those in the supposed minority.
"We think lowering the voting age and civics education go hand-in-hand," he said, however.
Tipler jumped in to say civics education shouldn't be a barrier to lowering the voting age, claiming it's a "catalyst" for better civics education in schools.
They said they would argue it's undemocratic not to allow young people to vote.
Tipler's message to MPs is lowering the voting age is the right thing to do.
May this year saw Ghahraman's Electoral Amendment Bill drawn from the biscuit tin.
It means MPs are set to consider enabling voters of Māori descent to change between being on the general roll and Māori roll for electorates at any time, extending the right to vote to those aged 16 and upwards, removing the requirement for Kiwis based overseas to visit New Zealand within the last three years to be eligible to vote, and extending the right to vote to all prisoners.
An independent review is under way into the country's electoral laws, including the current voting age.
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