Latest news with #NatashaAbhayawickrama
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Whitlam gave 18-year-olds the vote. Now it's time to lower it again
In the midst of COVID and not long before the 2022 election, I tuned in half-heartedly to yet another Zoom seminar, something about sustainability in the global tech sector. It actually turned out to be riveting, but the thing I remember most was a throwaway line right at the end by a young speaker from western Sydney called Natasha Abhayawickrama. She was one of the brains behind the nationwide School Strike 4 Climate movement. Answering questions with great maturity from her family kitchen about her passion for climate action, she ended with a quiet aside: 'But of course I can't vote on any of this.' 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.
The Age
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Whitlam gave 18-year-olds the vote. Now it's time to lower it again
In the midst of COVID and not long before the 2022 election, I tuned in half-heartedly to yet another Zoom seminar, something about sustainability in the global tech sector. It actually turned out to be riveting, but the thing I remember most was a throwaway line right at the end by a young speaker from western Sydney called Natasha Abhayawickrama. She was one of the brains behind the nationwide School Strike 4 Climate movement. Answering questions with great maturity from her family kitchen about her passion for climate action, she ended with a quiet aside: 'But of course I can't vote on any of this.' 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.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Could climate-conscious kids sway Australia's election?
Feeling forgotten by major parties, young voters, who now outnumber baby boomers, are set to express their anger about climate inaction at the ballot box. "A child turning 10 this year has lived through the 10 hottest years on record," read a January letter addressed to the Australian government. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Written by four young climate activists, and cosigned by dozens of community leaders, the letter demands a Climate Duty of Care Bill that will protect young people from "climate change harm" as the "world continues to warm and climate disaster increases in frequency and severity." It comes in response to the record temperatures, wildfires, storms and floods that have marked Australia in recent years. As the country goes to the polls on May 3, this rising generation sees a chance to finally voice their climate concerns at the ballot box. Gen Z and Millennials are going to make up almost 50% of voters this election, outnumbering baby boomers for the first time, notes Natasha Abhayawickrama, a 20-year-old campaigner for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition . This demographic shift has been described as a "youthquake." "Many young people [have long felt] disempowered and disenfranchised from politics," said the campaigner, who was inspired to join the climate movement by . She says many youth feel current and former governments have not done enough to address the climate crisis. "Now we finally have such a huge portion of electoral voting power, we are absolutely going to show up and use it," she said. Australia is still a major polluter Australia, the world's driest continent, is a major exporter of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel. It is also the world's second-largest exporter of fossil fuel carbon emissions that are the primary drivers of climate change. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "It's frightening to think that the planet we reside on is quite rapidly becoming a place we can no longer inhabit," said Eva Ward , a 19-year-old university student from Melbourne. "Climate change policies are one of the key things I will be focusing on when I vote." Over three-quarters of young Australians aged 16-25 are concerned about climate change, according to a 2023 survey, with some 67% saying climate distress is negatively impacting their mental health. Ward doesn't believe that either of the major parties are "really doing the issue justice." She wants to see "a quicker transition to renewable energy," and a "crackdown" on "emissions and waste from big corporations." Meanwhile, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition is demanding planet-heating carbon emissions be reduced by 75% before the end of the decade and that net zero is reached by 2035 — some 15 years ahead of the current government target. This could be achieved, they suggest, through a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, a phaseout of all existing fossil fuels, and a ban on new coal, oil and gas projects. Growing up in the shadow of fossil fuels These demands are at odds with the massive influence of the fossil fuel sector on Australian politics. While the incumbent center-left Labor government promotes clean energy, aiming for 82% renewable electricity production by 2030, it has come under fire for approving new coal and gas projects since taking power three years ago. Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition center-right Liberal party , Peter Dutton, wants to increase gas production, and during a leader debate said he did not know whether climate change results in extreme weather. While the Liberals support net zero emissions by 2050, they are pushing for a build-out of high-cost nuclear energy over renewables, which are becoming cheaper all the time. And in a country with what some say is the world's most expensive real estate market, costs matters. Lucas Walsh , professor of education culture and society at Monash University in Melbourne, says Australia's rising generation is facing an unprecedented "world of uncertainty and insecurity." Abhayawickrama says young people are "struggling with rent, groceries and energy bills," and that "climate inaction will only make things worse, especially as we face escalating climate impacts." A report co-authored by Walsh on the five top issues for young voters in the 2025 federal election shows that climate was the third biggest concern after housing and job security and finances. Yet it barely registers as an election issue among the broader public, where debates about energy affordability are overwhelming discussion of the energy transition. Should youth consolidate around the current government? The perceived failure of governments to deal with what Walsh calls existential "polycrises" means some young people are also disengaging from democracy. Nearly half of Gen Z voters polled in a recent study said they only turned up to cast their ballot in the last election to avoid a fine — voting is compulsory in Australia. Young people are also less partisan than their parents, says Walsh , meaning they are more likely to vote for minor parties. Rebekkah Markey-Towler, a research fellow with the Melbourne Climate Futures think tank, agrees there is "a general turn away from the major political parties in Australia." In the last federal ballot, pro-climate candidates took numerous seats from the mainstream Labor and Liberal parties with the help of youth voters, and she believes this weekend could produce more along the same lines. "I think at this election we will see some young people turn towards the Greens and the Teal independents," Markey-Towler said. Though she added that the ruling Labor government, which wants to host the UN climate conference in Australia in 2026, has made "significant progress" in terms of climate policy. The government's 2022 Climate Change Act increased emission reduction targets and aims to revitalize investments in climate adaptation and decarbonization. But Walsh cautions that Labor's climate targets are too "abstract" to satisfy disillusioned young voters demanding "immediate action." Climate campaigner Abhayawickrama agrees that the current government has made major investments in renewable energy but says the reforms "have fallen far below the level of action we need for a safe climate." Stella Ray, a 19-year-old student based near Melbourne, is among the young voters considering putting a cross for Labor, whose climate targets she says are perhaps more realistic than the Greens party goal of net zero emission by 2035. But she doesn't expect much to change without "a drastic political shift." Meanwhile Eva Ward is resigned to settling for 'the best of the worst' at the ballot box, where the youthquake could result in widespread losses for parties with weak climate policies. "Young people are going decide the outcome of this election," reiterated Abhayawickrama.
