The likelihood of a federal election happening in the next 12 months is set to up the ante in the political arena. People around Australia will cast their votes on issues like the housing crisis, the climate crisis, gendered violence and the cost of living. Yet despite the fact that plenty of young people are bearing the brunt of these issues, they will be denied a say at the ballot box.
In recent weeks we’ve seen UK Labour leader Keir Starmer voice his support for lowering the voting age to 16. This comes on the back of Germany lowering its voting age for the European Parliament to 16, and would bring the UK in line with the 12 countries across the world who have lowered their voting age from 18.
With a federal election looming, and a cohort of young people who care deeply about the world around them, it’s Australia’s turn to extend the right to vote to 16- and 17-year-olds.
Australia is no stranger to this kind of bold electoral reform. We’ve always led the way on progressive changes to strengthen our democracy — from the secret ballot, to compulsory and preferential voting — and when it comes to lowering the voting age, we should be no different. In fact, we’ve done it before. It was the Whitlam government that, in the face of changing societal circumstances and an increasingly independent, mature and vocal group of 18-year-olds, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1973.
50 years on we have to acknowledge that times have, again, changed. Australia is not the country it was half a century ago, and neither are its young people. Just as 18-year-olds were better informed in 1973 than they were in 1923, we believe that 16-year-olds are now better informed than ever before. It’s time to expand the franchise to allow more young people to have a say, just as we did all those years ago.
The arguments made by the Labor government in 1973 for extending the vote to 18-year-olds now apply just as readily to 16-year-olds. As Fred Daly, the first federal member for Grayndler, successfully argued:
“They make their presence felt and their ideas known much more readily … they are as informed at 18 years of age now, as they used to be a generation ago at 21 years of age.”
If only the current member for Grayndler — and the party he leads — would recognise the clear logic laid out by his predecessor.
Daly clearly outlined the changing nature of our society and an evolving understanding of maturity in our young people. Now, we must listen to our young people, society and the many experts, both legal and medical, who have been calling for this change for years.
We know that young people are politically aware and engaged in their communities. We know that many high school students who work on top of their studies are taxed without representation. We know that hundreds of thousands of young people show up on the streets to demand change from decision-makers on the issues that matter to them — from action on climate change to justice for Palestine. 16- and 17-year-olds can, by law, drive on our roads, consent to both sex and medical procedures, leave school or home, pay rent, work full time, and apply to enlist in the armed forces — and yet we are denied the simple, democratic act of voting. Now, more than ever, young people represent themselves and actively participate in our democracy — and we want those who represent us to accurately include and stand for us.
Extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds is not a new idea for Australians. Former Labor leader Bill Shorten supported lowering the voting age in the lead-up to the 2016 federal election and we’ve seen multiple bills introduced at different levels of government, including federally as recently as 2023. And, just last year, Make It 16 launched the first push to lower the voting age spearheaded by young people. Our movement is only growing, with large grassroots support all around Australia.
Make It 16 is also behind the fresh push in the ACT ahead of this year’s territory election to have lowering the voting age adopted by the government as official policy, including a petition by young Canberrans demanding the right to vote. In less than 12 months, all of Australia will head to the polls. It’s time that 16- and 17-year-olds be included in this.
This inclusion would mean our elected representatives could no longer afford to ignore the issues that young people care about, and it would ensure that they are held accountable if they do not make genuine efforts towards the change we want to see. We know that countries which have lowered the voting age have seen clear benefits, including greater political education and engagement, and young people turning up to vote in even greater numbers than older generations.
In a world where it is increasingly difficult to be young, we should be empowering our young Australians to speak out. No one has a larger stake in the future than young people. Why not seize this opportunity to strengthen our democracy by extending a vote of confidence to us?
Should Australia lower the voting age to 16? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
