It’s often easy for people to think that elections don’t matter, especially in local government. But Manawatū District Council is attempting to get voters more invested in local body politics by highlighting the voice of the future generation that will benefit from our votes today.

Council has published the first video in a series, featuring youth and rangatahi of the district, encouraging their voting age whānau, family and friends to care more about local government, and demonstrating the impact that voting can have on their future.

The videos can help our younger generation to start conversations with the people in their lives that can vote about the issues that are important to them.

“The key tagline of our campaign is Make Your Mark on Manawatū, and there’s probably a really good percentage of eligible voters in our district that haven’t felt the need to, or the desire to cast a vote before. What we wanted to do was provide people a reason to vote in a positive way, and we’ve tried to champion the voice of youth to do that with this campaign,” says Council’s Communications and Engagement Manager Rhi Galpin.

The aim of council’s Make Your Mark on Manawatū campaign is to get people who are eligible to vote to be more future focused and thinking not just about themselves, but also the next generation that is coming through.

To help spark conversations, council has created some Whānau conversation cards, which provide a range of questions and prompts designed to get people thinking about what they want to see in the Manawatū District.

“The hope is that these conversations will encourage those who are disinterested in local government, or those who don’t see the point in voting, to reconsider and become more involved,” adds Rhi. “Even the simple act of voting can help design the future of our district, and that future will be lived by our tamariki.”

On council’s website, people can use the What’s in it for me? Tool, which gets them thinking about what it is that they value in the community and then demonstrates the influence that council can have on the things that they care about, including the big issues such as climate change, affordable housing and how we can facilitate the economic and residential growth of our district.

Council will be holding some family friendly pop up movie events in Tangimoana, Halcombe and Āpiti, which will be perfect opportunities for parents to bring their kids along to watch a film and connect with others in the community, as well as find out more about council and the elections.

The team will also be at a number of pop up events in the Feilding area, where families can pick up a set of the Whanaū Cards, as well as a native seedling pot, nurtured by the Council’s Native Plant Nursery in Kawakawa Road.

“What better way to encourage whānau to think about the future than by helping them plant their very own little piece of Manawatū!”

We’re also encouraging young people to tell us what they would like to see change for the future with our Design the Future drawing competition. There’s two age categories, ages 5 – 8 and 9 – 12, and the winners of each category will win a $100 Warehouse gift card. The competition is being judged by local art guru Joe McMenamin.

Movie night details
Āpiti – Friday 16 September, Āpiti Community Hall at 7:00pm
Tangimoana – Friday 23 September, Tangimoana (McKelvie) Hall at 7:00pm
Halcombe – Fiday 30 September, Halcombe Memorial Hall at 7:00pm
 

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