An interest in politics is great, but only adults should be allowed to vote
Today's young people have an entire universe of information at their fingertips, can interact with each other across the globe in real time and are arguably more aware of social and political issues than my generation was at 16.
It's for this reason that some argue Australia should follow the UK in reducing the voting age to 16. It's estimated that the move will result in 1.6 million young people being allowed to cast a ballot for the first time at the next UK election.
Following last week's announcement by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Australia's Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek responded, 'I think there's a lot of 16-year-olds out there who take a very keen interest in politics.' Not a ringing endorsement, but neither was it a rejection of the idea.
There was a much stronger response from the independent member for Kooyong, Monique Ryan, who told the media that she would prioritise introducing a bill to parliament calling for a lowering of Australia's minimum voting age from 18 to 16.
Interviewed on ABC NewsRadio, she said: 'Around the world, there is a global move to lower the voting age. 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.'
However, an interest in politics and socio-economic issues does not directly translate into the necessity for enfranchisement of young people considered 'minors' in every other regulatory context.
To that end, Australia has the right balance relative to the US and the UK, where age limits vary and in some cases seem nonsensical.
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