Nice, I'd love to see the voting age abolished altogether. If someone has the desire and the ability to go into a voting booth, tick a box and express their opinion, all power to them. I've known 7-year-olds with coherent, consistent political opinions that deserve to be added to the tally. On the other side of the coin, I've meet 30-year-olds who we probably shouldn't include if we truly believe some people's views should not count because those views are not well developed.
Even if it is true that on average children do not vote as sensibly as adults, that is not a reason to disenfranchise all of them.
The only fair test would be based on ability to vote, rather than any proxy of that - be it age, criminal past or other. And such a test of voting ability would be highly illiberal. It would expose the anti-democratic nature of the exclusions.

Cal me a union member, but I kind of like the idea of a bank where the people who work there have predominantly 9-5 jobs. I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of convenience to protect that. I have, however, no idea if the lack of after hours service you experienced with Kiwibank has anything to do with Kiwibank affording its workers family-friendly working conditions.

Wow. Fascinating!

Sadly I thought this year's WC was the most disappointing WC I've seen - except for perhaps the 1994 one. Both involved the favourite team deservedly winning but also completely failing to light up the tournament. Most of the big teams and big players didn't really step up to the mark and it seemed that risk-free defence was more highly valued than creativity or attack.

NZ's contribution, was to exemplify the key lesson of this year's world cup = that a stodgy, boring team can crush the spirits of better, more creative and visionary teams.

Sorry, but how is becoming a stereotypical gay man going to address PA's reputation for being comfortably artistically middle class white and leftish? Without wanting to humourlessly miss the joke, wouldn't it be better to become a different stereotype - maybe a Samoan solo mother or a Southland Baptist preacher, or anybody from Urewera

And so from the Islamic state of Malaysia emerges this long simmering plot. Lucky the ever-watchful US citizenry uncovered it before the Hasheds got to unleash the second stage of their plan. (Throwing actual anthrax in large handfuls onto the streets?)

Muslims eh? Wouldn't be surprised if they were all homosexuals too.

I guess, but 'closing the gap' $300 over four of NZ's most prosperous years - I hope the govt still has its sights set a bit higher than that.

The percentages seem a little misleading to me: 41% on is $14,800 (Maori) is about $6,100, while 31% on $18,600 (Pakeha) is about $5,800. So, the gap has closed $300 rather than 10%. Not to be sniffed at but but also hardly overwhelming.

Thank you. After National Radio’s thirty-ish stories yesterday and today on the Asian ethnicity overtaking Maori at some unspecified time in the future I was desperate for someone to point out that, well, Asia is not an ethnicity as such but a rather large continent. As for the New Zealanders – what I’m most amused about the graph in you story is that the ‘New Zealanders’ have been placed right at the far end of the graph in amongst all the minorities. Was this actually their political goal? Anyway, they have now turned this particular set of statistics into a farce. Shame they won’t see it that way.