Healthcare<\/p>\n
The region\u2019s healthcare was the most frequently mentioned issue. Students spoke at length about \u201cunder-resourcing\u201d at Gisborne Hospital. <\/a><\/p>\n Many have family and friends who work at the hospital. Campion College\u2019s Nadia Beard thought the hospital was \u201cseverely understaffed and underfunded\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201c[Staff have] advocated for change for so long and nothing\u2019s really been happening,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard seeing people come home so tired and so stressed about it when there should be so much more effort being put into helping them.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaac Ng attends Gisborne Boys\u2019 High and turns 18 on election day. He is planning to study health at university to support rural communities \u201cwho are chronically understaffed\u201d<\/a>. He and classmate Shaun Diver expressed frustration that people had to travel out of the region for specialist care.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some of the highest depression rates for teenagers<\/a>, obesity rates, suicide rates \u2026 we have a really high rate of rheumatic fever,\u201d Shaun said. <\/p>\n \u201cAs long as you\u2019re healthy, you can debate other topics and you can have other concerns, but as soon as someone in your life gets sick or has a very terrible diagnosis, everything else stops, and it becomes about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Roads<\/p>\n Coming in a close second was the state of the region\u2019s roads. <\/a><\/p>\n When asked what issues were affecting Gisborne\u2019s young people, Gisborne Girls\u2019 High student Mya Wilson immediately responded with \u201cthe roads\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cEverybody talks about infrastructure,\u201d classmate Nellie Varey said. \u201cWe were hit really hard by the cyclone [Gabrielle] and every time there\u2019s another weather event, it just gets worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Campion College students had a similar response. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been asking for the roads to be fixed for so long, and we haven\u2019t seen anything,\u201d Amy Main said. \u201cI go driving [down] one street \u2026 and pothole after pothole. My car is going to break. Like, please guys, I want these roads fixed.\u201d <\/p>\n Lack of regional opportunities<\/p>\n All 10 students the Gisborne Herald spoke to plan to attend university next year. <\/p>\n Science and commerce degrees are popular picks, particularly healthcare-specific study paths. <\/p>\n Most want to return eventually to start families, but not in the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n Mya said being a young person in Gisborne was \u201ckinda boring\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing for us young ones to do besides, I don\u2019t know, drink,\u201d classmate Charlie Ireland said. \u201cThat\u2019s literally all there is to do. You see a lot of people, like younger kids, roaming in the middle of the night because there\u2019s nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaac felt Gisborne had been \u201cleft by the wayside\u201d compared with other developing cities. <\/p>\n Shaun and classmate Alexander Dinkel have considered moving to Australia because \u201cthe money\u2019s a lot better than just trying to find a job in New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c[I\u2019ve] definitely thought about it because why wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d Alexander said. <\/p>\n Artificial intelligence was brought up twice, unprompted, by Gisborne Girls\u2019 High and Campion students. <\/p>\n For Nadia, AI was \u201cdefinitely\u201d something she thought about when it came to planning her career. <\/p>\n She had been interested in studying marketing, but her parents told her there was a risk of AI taking roles in the field.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s annoying having to be worried about that when you are already sacrificing stuff you enjoy for a job that\u2019s more secure to get more money.<\/p>\n \u201cBut now you\u2019ve also got to sacrifice, like, that kind of creativity, and even more enjoyment to get a secure job for money that\u2019s also not going to be taken over by AI \u2026 so it\u2019s like, what options am I left with?\u201d <\/p>\n Fees Free<\/p>\n Finances framed the discussion at every school, with most of the students in the process of applying for scholarships. <\/p>\n Shaun said scholarships were a \u201cheavy decider\u201d in choosing a university. <\/p>\n Classmate Jake Higgins, a former youth MP for Labour\u2019s Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, is expecting his first year at uni to cost about $32,000. He said the scrapping of the Fees Free scheme<\/a> for tertiary students at the end of this year was \u201csaddening\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want rangatahi, they want us to go to work \u2026 [but] we can\u2019t get that job unless we have thousands of dollars to go and learn about that job at university?\u201d <\/p>\n Charlie said bringing back Fees Free could convince her to vote for a party. <\/p>\n \u201cI understand not having it first year, because people take advantage of it,\u201d Charlie said. <\/p>\n \u201c…but especially having it last year would help,\u201d Mya added. <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe just more help for uni kids in general,\u201d Nellie said. \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n Political leanings<\/p>\n The students said they were drawn to parties across the political spectrum. <\/p>\n The Opportunity Party, Labour and the Greens were the most popular among those spoken with. However, most were still undecided about which would win their vote.<\/p>\n Tamatha Paul, the Greens\u2019 candidate for the Wellington North electorate, was the fan favourite. Paul was mentioned by at least one student from each school, and this was often met with nods from their peers.<\/p>\n Jake thinks Paul, who is 29, is \u201cjust amazing\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s always advocating for what\u2019s right, really, in my eyes … she\u2019s just like me, too. She\u2019s still very young, and I look up to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Nadia often sees Paul\u2019s posts on social media. <\/p>\n \u201cShe seems to advocate for lots of things and doesn\u2019t back down, and I think that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Most students said they got their political information from social media, but all were wary of taking posts at face value. <\/p>\n \u201cI know that the parties can kind of create their own, like, what they want people to perceive them as, so I\u2019m kind of careful with what I believe,\u201d Nadia said.<\/p>\n For the East Cape electorate, incumbent Dana Kirkpatrick, of National, was the most commonly mentioned candidate. Some students said she was the only local candidate they knew of. <\/p>\n \u2018Aren\u2019t you supposed to be running the country?\u2019<\/p>\n Although Alexander has enrolled to vote, he does not plan to do so as he feels he is \u201cnot informed enough to make a proper decision\u201d.<\/p>\n Most of the students said they felt voting wouldn\u2019t make a difference. Some said they didn\u2019t know enough about politics and needed to do their research.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve felt this way, where, just what\u2019s the point in voting? Like what change am I kind of going to make?\u201d Amy said. \u201cWe\u2019re kind of screwed. [Young people are] not a big fan of the options, so they\u2019re just kind of like, \u2018Oh, let whoever gets it, get it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Across all schools, students said they were tired of political bickering. <\/p>\n Alexander said it was one of the reasons he had chosen not to vote.<\/p>\n \u201cEach party\u2019s trying to demean the other one, trying to put each other down, so it kind of seems like none of them can do a good job.\u201d <\/p>\n Amy said National and Labour social media posts making digs at each other were \u201creally stupid\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cI was like, come on \u2013 aren\u2019t you supposed to be running our country?\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he thought young people felt heard by politicians, Jake replied: \u201cNo, absolutely not. Political parties and people in politics have their own view on what New Zealand should look like, and they\u2019re not going to change that because rangatahi views suggest something else.\u201d <\/p>\n Thoughts on the current Government<\/p>\n Students had mixed attitudes towards the coalition Government. <\/p>\n Campion College student Rio Knight felt it was \u201cdoing as good as they can\u201d. <\/p>\n Nellie said it was \u201cpersonally, not my cup of tea\u201d. <\/p>\n Isaac felt it was \u201clargely inoffensive\u201d, apart from the failed Treaty Principles Bill.<\/a><\/p>\n