Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink has warned that young people are being drawn into echo chambers online where extreme views are reinforced without balance.
Speaking about the influence of social media, Weenink said young men in particular were showing more misogynistic views than previous generations.
“There is a rise of misogynistic views. That’s a fact. We’ve even seen information about the views of young men and what they think their future wives should be doing in New Zealand, that shows their opinions about the positions of women in the workplace have changed compared to the baby boomer generation. They’re actually expressing more misogynistic views than the baby boomer generation. So that, to me, should concern everyone,” she said.
Her comments follow warnings raised at the Post Primary Teachers’ Association conference in Christchurch, where some teachers said students were being influenced by online figures such as Andrew Tate and Donald Trump.
They pointed to concerns that some classrooms were becoming ideological battlegrounds, with both progressive and conservative views clashing.
Labour list MP Tracey McLellan said there was a broader danger in young people being exposed only to narrow streams of information.
“When it’s hearts and minds and thoughts and the core of what makes a person a person, we haven’t got to grips with that bombardment of very narrow information that can be dangerous to people. We do have to get a better grip on how we protect young people who are incredibly influential,” she said.
Both MPs said schools and society needed to provide young people with better tools to think critically about what they encountered online. Current parliamentary work includes a select committee inquiry into online harm and misinformation, and Education Minister Erica Stanford is looking at how the curriculum can address disinformation and digital literacy.
Attention also turned to the cruise ship industry after Disney announced it would no longer visit New Zealand, citing operating difficulties.
Weenink said while New Zealand welcomed cruise tourism, biosecurity protections were critical.
“The bio fouling regulations are actually important. We don’t want to be spreading exotic organisms around our harbours, especially to places like Milford Sound. If we’re able to smooth out those lumpy bits, then there’ll be a change,” she said.
McLellan said New Zealand’s environmental standards must not be lowered.
“Cruise ships are one thing, but they’re a piece of the puzzle. We can’t sacrifice the big picture just to lower standards for one particular part of the tourism sector,” she said.
The conversation then shifted to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s leadership after a business survey ranked him 15th in cabinet.
McLellan said Luxon was failing to connect with the public.
“He’s not popular on the street, and now even this cohort, the business cohort, seem to have abandoned him. That’s a reflection of the fact that he doesn’t have a plan, and he’s not communicating to real people about the issues that matter most to them,” she said.
Weenink acknowledged economic challenges but defended Luxon, pointing to National’s wider team.
“It’s tough at the moment, it really is. We know the economy has struggled and people are doing it tough. But Chris Luxon has got a great team around him. One of the strengths of the National Party is we have really strong ministers and a strong back bench as well,” she said.
McLellan countered that public sentiment and polls told a different story.
“If that was true, we’d be seeing that reflected in the polls, and we’re hearing the exact opposite,” she said.
