Lyttelton Dinner with Jacinda Ardern

[Jacinda Ardern, Labour's youngest MP and can­di­date for Auck­land Cen­tral, is coming for a fundraising dinner in Lyttelton. Here she invites everybody to come along.]

I'm thrilled to have been given this opportunity to come and meet the local people of Lyttleton. This will only be my second visit to Lyttleton; I stopped by last year with some friends and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It will be great to explore the area with some local knowledge close at hand!

I was elected in 2008 and have the privilege of serving as the Opposition Spokesperson for Youth Affairs and Youth Justice. I am passionate about issues that affect New Zealand's youth, in particular helping to solve youth unemployment and ensuring we have a youth justice system that focuses on early intervention.

It is very exciting to see the increased participation of youth in Labour branches throughout the Christchurch region. The youth of Christchurch have been very proactive recently in lobbying people on issues that really matter to them, such as water privatisation, voluntary student membership, and assisting with campaigning for the upcoming local body elections.

Having said this though, there are several issues affecting youth that transcend geographic and demographic boundaries; issues that affect all New Zealanders, young and old, that need to be discussed within our local communities.

This Friday, I intend to talk about the characteristics of Generation Y; how young people fit within politics today, and what kind of future we are building for the next generation of young people, in the hopes that we can start to further encourage the participation of young people in the Labour Party.

I sincerely hope that you give your support to the Lyttleton branch fundraiser this Friday, 18th June and I look forward to seeing you there.

[Fri­day,  18 June, 7.00pm. Lyt­tel­ton Main School Hall, Oxford Street, Lyt­tel­ton. Tickets are $25.]