Censorship of Youth MPs in Parliament and new changes coming into effect July 1 including to Kiwisaver scheme and benefits w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 3 July, 2025

As the youth parliament is set to take place this week, a number of youth MPs have spoken out claiming they have been asked to change or remove elements of their speeches which criticise certain political figures or current topics like environmental action, pay equity and the treaty principles bill. 

Youth Organisation Gen Z Aotearoa founder Nate Wilbourne was asked to edit parts of his speech calling out Ministers Shane Jones, Tama Potaka and Penny Simmonds on their role in environmental destruction. 
He said “When your voices are edited to remove criticism, when ministers are shielded from being named, when we're told that our lived experiences are too political, that is not neutrality – that is protection of the status quo.”

As well this week, on July 1st a number of changes came into effect including the government’s Kiwisaver contributions and eligibility, the rate in payments for sole parents and through ACC, Healthy Homes standards, and procedures for receiving the job seeker benefit. 

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Sara asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about both of these topics