Independent MP to push a lowering of Australia's voting age after UK decision

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6 hours ago

Independent MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan has vowed to introduce another bill to parliament pushing for a lowering of Australia's minimum voting age, after the United Kingdom reduced its voting age from 18 to 16.
In the UK, the move would see an additional 1.6 million young people allowed to cast their ballots in the next election, in the biggest electoral reform in more than half a century.
Ms Ryan told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing that she would be supportive of Australia implementing a similar move.
"Around the world, there is a global move to lower the voting age," Ms Ryan said.
"The fact is, in democracies we see that fewer and fewer young people feel they are actively engaged and supported by government and they're turning away from politics and what we want to do is bring them back.
Ms Ryan said that she planned to introduce another private member's bill during the upcoming term of federal parliament, after an initial bill in 2018 failed to pass.
"When the parliamentary committee looked at this in 2018, Labor was supportive of lowering the voting age.
"Where things fell down was whether or not 16- and 17-year-olds should be forced to vote, whether it should be compulsory, or whether it should be voluntary at that age," Ms Ryan said.
"I'll be pushing it because young people in my electorate tell me that it matters to them."
The independent believes that, if the voting age were lowered, an inclusion in the bill that would rescind any potential electoral fine issued against young people who refuse to vote may help gain parliamentary approval.
"If we think 16- and 17-year-olds are fit to vote, that they have the cognitive and emotional maturity to do so … then they should vote," she said.
"The fallback option is that you don't enforce any fines on young people who don't turn up the first time round.
"That would be a reasonable meeting point where we don't put too much pressure on young people, but we give them this universal enfranchisement and treat them as adults."
Young Australians and some politicians are hoping this plan will have a snowball effect in Australia.
Amelia Condon-Cernovs was 15 when she started advocating to lower the voting age with the Foundation for Young Australians.
Now 18, the Canberran campaigner said young people wanted a voice and a chance to be involved in democracy, with the cost of living, education and climate change fuelling the change.
She said that, much like driving a car, young voters should learn the political system bit by bit.
"You don't go from not knowing how to drive to having your full licence," she said.
The voting age has not always been 18 — roughly 50 years ago, it was 21.
In 1973, the federal government moved to lower the age of eligibility amid the Vietnam War.
Political scientist at the Australian National University Jill Sheppard said that change followed a social understanding that if young people could die for their country, they should be able to vote for it.
And at the time, like today, not everyone was happy.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John introduced a bill to lower the voting age in 2018 and recently said Australians needed to think about who they wanted to influence policy.
"I know who I would trust, out of those two groups.
"We've got around half a million Australians who currently are prevented from having their say about policy decisions that will affect them for the longest."
For the voting age to change, the federal government would need to pass legislation to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1918.
If Senator Steele-John's bill had passed, he said it would have been compulsory for those 16 or 17 years old to vote.
However, it would have introduced a clause in the Electoral Act to would allow electoral officers to consider waiving a fine if someone 16 or 17 years old did not vote.
Dr Sheppard researches voting behaviour in federal elections and says parties fear lowering the vote will open "Pandora's box".
"Labor probably wouldn't be any worse off if they allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, but that fear of opening Pandora's box is always a worry for parties of government," she said.
"What may happen in this parliament, though, because the Greens have the balance of power in the Senate, is that they put that on the table as a bargaining chip.
Austria, Germany and Brazil have already changed the voting age to 16 and Scotland allows voting at 16 in local elections, although the UK general election is run under UK law.
Dr Sheppard said while compulsory voting was one key difference between the Australian and British electoral systems, she believed the evidence found in other countries would also flow on to Australia.
"It is time for Australia to follow suit. If the UK can do it, so can we," Senator Steele-John said.