Whitlam gave 18-year-olds the vote. Now it's time to lower it again
What? Here was a thoughtful, rational, educated leader, completely across the biggest challenge of our age, yet she could not participate in our election because she would only have been 17 on election day. Really?
Let's check what Natasha could have done at 17. She could enlist in the army. She could get a job and pay taxes. She could drive a car. She could independently manage her own MyHealth records. She could be charged as an adult with a criminal offence. And, like the then 16-year-old Melbourne climate change activist, Anjali Sharma, she could launch a class action against the federal environment minister for failing to consider the impacts of climate change. Yet for some reason, Australia deemed Natasha incapable of stepping inside a voting booth, picking up the stumpy pencil, and voting for her future.
Australia should follow England's lead and fix this. There are some, such as British academic and podcaster, Professor David Runciman, who argue the voting age could drop as low as six. Only a crazy brave government would float that one up. Yet surely by election day 2028, Australia should at least drop the voting age to 16 or 17. This is hardly radical. We'd simply be joining England and also Austria, Brazil, Scotland, Cuba, Malta, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Wales and Indonesia, all of whom have lowered their voting ages across varying levels of government.
A big question concerning lawmakers here in Australia is, would dropping the voting age skew the vote? The common fear is it would favour parties of the left. However, European researchers found voting patterns among 16 and 17-year-olds were unpredictable and poorly studied. But there were evident gender differences. Young women tended to vote progressive on issues such as climate change, gender equality and social justice. Young men were more split, showing greater support than young women for right-leaning, populist parties.
In 1973, prime minister Gough Whitlam lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Even the Liberal opposition leader at the time, Billy Snedden, admitted that compared to previous generations, young Australians were 'better informed, better able to judge, more confident in their judgements, more critical in their appraisals, and on more mature terms with society around them'.
He was speaking then, of course, about the Baby Boomers. While their dominance might be fading, those Boomers swelled the ranks to become Australia's most feted and entitled generation. Just look at how many policy announcements over many decades were targeted squarely at them. Then try and find something, anything, that addresses in a long-term, concrete fundamental way, the generational inequality faced by young Australians. Rocketing rents and housing prices, precarious employment (not helped by AI), low wages, high HECS debt and, scariest of all, a failing planet they'll be forced to confront long after the rest of us have departed.
Compared to Gough Whitlam's 1973, Australia feels like another world. Yet, Billy Snedden's words could apply just as equally to today's 16 and 17-year-olds. In their hand sits a tool that, with a swipe, allows them to find an answer to pretty much anything. At no other time in human history have they been more informed, educated and globally connected.
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Perth Now
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Sydney Morning Herald
40 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Let's lower the voting age and see some progress
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Sky News AU
40 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells cabinet to prepare for more unrest
The British Prime Minister told his cabinet to prepare for many more fiery protests over migrant crime in English towns, if "social cohesion" isn't mended. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned his cabinet that more anti-illegal migration protests lie ahead if social cohesion isn't mended, as his government struggles with an influx of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel. Mr Starmer is reported to have said to his ministers that more protest will follow if the government does not deliver on its promise to cut immigration and stop illegal boat crossings in the English Channel. Meanwhile, Downing Street's executive director of policy and delivery Liz Lloyd warned that social cohesion was "fraying at the edges." It comes after a series of protests against migrant hotels - recently in the Essex town of Epping in the southeast of England, and in the Norfolk town of Diss in the east of England. Speaking on GB News, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said there was a risk of a summer of civil disobedience on a grand scale. — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 22, 2025 "Don't underestimate the simmering anger and disgust there is in this country," he warned, highlighting weekly arrivals of "many hundreds of undocumented young males". Mr Farage also said most people attending the anti-immigration protests are concerned families who are worried about social cohesion. "Do I understand how people in Epping feel? You bet your life I do." In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner - who is also the UK housing minister - said immigration and deprivation was fraying social cohesion. Presenting the UK's Plan for Neighbourhoods, Ms Rayner said 17 of 18 neighbourhoods that experienced rioting last year were among the most deprived in England. "While Britain was a successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith country, the government had to show it had a plan to address people's concerns and provide opportunities for everyone to flourish," she warned. She said it was 'incumbent on the government to acknowledge the real concerns people have and to deliver improvements to people's lives and their communities.' Opinion polling in the UK suggests that if a general election was held today Reform UK would most likely be the largest party, with the governing Labour party - which swept to power after 14 years of Conservative governments - reduced to the opposition.
