Warning of a chasm between some 18-25 voters and federal policies

THE number of 18- to 25-year-olds with zero interest in politics is potentially dangerous in Australia, warns a youth affairs expert.

THERE is a chasm between federal politics and young people that could become dangerous, warns the chair of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition Katie Acheson.

Ms Acheson says this while sitting in Parliament House, the workplace of the enemy for many young people and where in as few as two weeks we might be told an election date.

“Because an Australia of the future without an engaged youth population is a dangerous place for us to be,” said Ms Acheson.

“We need to make sure they have jobs that they can get the education that they need.”

Why dangerous? “Because they are going to leave. We see in other countries where you’ve got a brain drain where if you don’t find a job in your own country you are going to find one where you can get one.

“And dangerous in the political sphere where young people are the swing vote so you win and lose a close election on the youth vote.”

So there is this large pool of young voters waiting to be tapped in an election which opinion polling shows could be very close.

She said: “What young people are interested in is hearing their needs and their views being reflected in what politicians are saying.

“We have a real chasm in what’s going on for young people and what the politicians are actually talking about.

“It’s quite concerning actually. We haven’t heard any of the parties come out and say ‘We want to get that youth vote, we want to start talking about what young people care about.

That’s if they vote. Ms Acheson said last year some 400,000 people aged 18 to 25 did not get on the electoral rolls.

“So they are not just saying, I’m not going to vote. They said, I just don’t think that being part of this will make a difference,” she said.

“And that’s not actually true but it shows that disengagement of young people: Why should I get involved in this process if nobody on either side is actually going to represent me.”

The AYAC was one of the victims of Federal Government cost cutting and Ms Acheson is a volunteer chair. She also points to the loss of a Youth Affairs Minister and funding changes to education.

The young voters watching this often are not interested in party politics, she says.

“The fascinating thing with young people is they are just issues based,” said Ms Acheson.

“Unlike an aged population that we have now where you can almost guarantee who they are going to vote for because they vote on party lines and they might change now and then, young people are purely issues based.”

“These issues include climate change, marriage equality and asylum seekers.”