Many high school students can work, drive, sign up for the military and have children.
One thing they can’t do is vote. But some teenagers are arguing that should change – starting at 16.
Darcy, 17, has been working for two years and paying tax but wants to be able to vote. Credit: Justin McManus
Darcy is a Melbourne high school student who wants to be able to cast their ballot in the upcoming federal election, but will miss out because their 18th birthday is later in the year.
They’re disappointed but are fighting to make sure others will get the opportunity to head to the ballot box.
“I think it will be better and more beneficial to democracy as a whole, and within Australia, to have a representative democracy that includes young people,” the 17-year-old said.
The teenager, from Templestowe in Melbourne’s north-east, argues that people their age work and pay taxes but have no say in where that money goes.
Darcy said they had worked in a fish and chip shop for two years and paid tax but didn’t get a say on how it was spent.
“[Politicians] are always talking to young people’s parents, their teachers, principals and the adults around them rather than directly to them,” they said.
Voting would give them a chance to say where they wanted that money to go and who should represent them, Darcy said.
“Extending the voting age … means that politicians can actually get a sense of young people and how they think and why they think things and what they care about,” they said.
According to data that the “Make It 16” campaign obtained through a freedom of information request, 16- and 17-year-olds paid more than $270 million in taxes between 2011 and 2021.
Ravin Desai, 19, who is part of the Make It 16 campaign, a non-partisan advocacy organisation run by young people, said there shouldn’t be taxation without representation.
“I think that it’s frankly ridiculous that the government expects young people to pay so much money in taxes and then not allow them to actually vote on where that money is spent,” he said.
“It’s plainly unethical in many ways.”
If young people could generate taxable income, had the ability to serve in the military, could drive and consent to medical procedures, they had the capacity to vote, Desai said.
Ravin Desai is part of the Make It 16 advocacy group.
But Monash University’s Paula Gerber said she didn’t agree with tying voting to taxes, and it could limit who voted.
“I actually think that’s not a strong argument [for allowing 16-year-olds to vote],” she said.
“If we link voting to paying taxes, we would exclude a lot of people – students, stay-at-home parents, people who are unemployed,” said Gerber, who specialises in international human rights law and has a focus on children’s rights.
But she said 16-year-olds had the right to express their views and have their opinions considered – and research showed they had the cognitive capacity and maturity to exercise the right to vote.
“Now youth political participation and activism demonstrates that they are ready and should be given their right to vote,” she said.
It would also help battle the decrease in youth voter turnout. It has declined from 90 per cent of eligible voters in 2001 to about 78 per cent, according to University of Adelaide politics professor Lisa Hill.
She said letting younger people vote could tackle declining turnout.
Hill said studies also showed there was a higher level of trust in governments and institutions in countries where 16-year-olds could vote, such as Austria and Scotland.
“There’s actually high turnout when you enfranchise 16-year-olds, [they] are keener than the 18-year-olds,” she said.
“It always, always makes democracy better, more responsive, more representative, more vital.”
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John was behind a bill to lower the voting age in 2018, but it failed to get the support needed.
“Unfortunately, the Labor and Liberal parties don’t want to hear from young people, they have resisted this change for many years even as many other countries have implemented these changes,” he said.
The senator said lowering the voting age would add thousands of new perspectives on democracy, and would lead to a more representative government.
“These are members of our community who are contributing to the community in all the ways other people do … or contributing to community groups and thinking about what the future looks like, and thinking what the education system needs for them.
“These are voices that we should hear loud and clear at the ballot box.”
Special Minister of State Don Farrell was contacted for comment.
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