Youth MP role for Gisborne’s Elenor Walsh focusing on regional resilience

Elenor Walsh has been selected as Dana Kirkpatrick's Youth MP for East Coast.

Gisborne student Elenor Walsh has been selected as the Youth MP for East Coast and will take part in the nationwide Youth Parliament later in the year.

Walsh, 17, is a former Gisborne Girls’ High student who studies at Woodford House in Hawke’s Bay.

She was selected by an independent panel of judges, including a local government representative, an Eastern Bay iwi representative and a member of the Eastern Bay community.

The judges were unanimous in their decision where six candidates – three from the Eastern Bay and three from Tairāwhiti – were asked to present a five-minute speech on a major issue facing Tairāwhiti.

They were also asked - if they could change one thing to fix that, what would it be.

The speeches ranged from fixing education, infrastructure plans, equal distribution of education funding, allowing voting online and creating better access to voting.

Walsh spoke about future-proofing regional infrastructure to ensure that the community was not left stranded every time there was a storm.

She advocated for regional resilience investment plans and sustainable land management options to create a longer-term approach to resilience that didn’t just treat storm damage as a one-off.

Elenor was thrilled to be announced as the East Coast Youth MP.

“I am extremely excited and thankful to be chosen for this opportunity, it’s a huge honour to represent the East Coast youth and to project their voice at parliament later this year,” she said.

“I look forward to engaging with the youth in this district and listening to what ideas our rangatahi would like to change and add to make this region the best it can be.”

Youth MPs will do some community work before attending the Youth Parliament in Wellington on July 1 and 2.

The programme includes work on leadership and provides an opportunity for a youth voice in the democratic process.