Youth Parliament is there to give aspiring politicians a taste of a future career, but after three decades the value of the event is in question

A former politician says change is needed to the Youth Parliament system if it's to stay relevant.

MP-turned political commentator Peter Dunne says the scheme isn't just "a rag-tag collection of young people coming together for a couple of days to play at being MPs," but if the event is going to be taken seriously, more consistency is required around its processes.

That's not the case at the moment, in everything from how the teens are selected to the quality of the mentorship they're getting.

The tri-annual event usually passes under the media radar, but this year's event was overshadowed by what a handful of Youth MPs said was censorship of their speeches.…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details