The tragic stabbing of a local teenager at the central bus terminal in May was a shocking wake-up call.
Last week, fellow New Zealand First list MP Tanya Unkovich and I convened a local meeting to discuss the issues facing our youth.
We as MPs needed to have assurances that public safety measures had been adequately addressed at the hub to restore public confidence.
And it gave us an opportunity to delve into the wider social drivers that led to such tragic circumstances.
Incidents like this do not happen in isolation.
Importantly, this was also a forum for our local student council leaders, led by impressive Otago Boys’ High School student Rohan O’Shea, to have their say. To tell their truth.
Rohan’s summary to the pressures and realities of being a young person in today’s society were a sobering reflection.
Many of the themes around teen anxiety are timeless, and impact every generation. However the insidious pressures of social media and an online presence are a recent dynamic adding far greater complexity.
Bullying for today’s pupils doesn’t end at 3pm when the bell rings.
It is pervasive and follows our children home online via their devices and social media.
We heard how addictions to online porn and gambling are capturing an alarming number of our children, warping their views of the world and how they interact with society.
As a group of MPs we will be carefully scrutinising the outcomes of the joint DCC and ORC working group responding to the tragic events at the bus hub.
However, the overriding message was that we as politicians, as parents and as communities, need to be far more cognisant of the perils our young people are facing, to support them accordingly.
As the old adage goes, it takes a village to raise a child.
