Push to follow overseas lead and lower voting age to 16 gains momentum

Australian academics are calling for the voting age to be lowered from 18 to 16 years of age, as the push for young people to have a say about issues like climate change gains momentum around the world.

Chair of adolescent health at Melbourne University Susan Sawyer believes “it’s only a matter of time” before Australia lowers the voting age.

Secondary student Brigid Potter, 17, supports lowering the voting age. Credit: Jason South

Professor Sawyer, one of the world’s leading authorities on adolescent health, says the rise in social media combined with a more “politically active” younger population demonstrated that 16-year-olds were aware of their political clout.

“In this age of social media, young people have realised that they can be much more politically active and can influence political decision-making through the range of activities that they have been engaged in,” she says.

“Young people are interested in the world around them, we only have to look at the huge concern that’s driven young people [to act on issues] like the climate crisis”, she says.

Lowering the voting age would see Australia follow in the footsteps of Scotland, Wales, Austria, parts of Germany, Argentina, and some Latin American countries.

It wouldn’t be the first time Australia has lowered the voting age. In 1973, the Whitlam Labor government marched in lockstep with the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and West Germany lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

In 2021, in New Zealand, a campaign to lower the voting age by young people, called ‘Make It 16’, went to the High Court but was subsequently dismissed. Young people in Canada last year also launched a legal challenge against Canada’s federal voting age.

In December, Professor Sawyer, along with 30 other academics from universities across Australia, put forward a submission supporting an ACT Greens bill that would allow 16-year-old territory residents to vote in a voluntary capacity.

A legislative assembly committee had suggested potential positive impacts of reducing the age noted overseas would not necessarily automatically translate to the ACT context, but it did not support the bill.

The NSW Greens are proposing a similar move in their state parliament in May. The Greens have been trying to lower the voting age, unsuccessfully, since 1996.

Currently, the Coalition and Labor are not looking to change the voting age.

In 2015, then Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten put forward the idea of lowering the voting age. The Coalition has never supported lowering the voting age below 18.

Greens leader Adam Bandt says giving 16- and 17-year-olds a chance to vote would lead to change in climate policy, and would mean governments would be “less inclined” to use coal and gas.

Greens leader Adam Bandt supports lowering the voting age in Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The 16- and 17-year-olds I’ve met understand Australia’s challenges better than most current ministers,” Mr Bandt says.

Brigid Potter, 17, from Princess Hill Secondary College, in Carlton North, says she was ready to vote at the age of 16.

Recent issues such as the Morrison government’s controversial religious anti-discrimination bill made her feel frustrated by her inability to vote.

Ms Potter, who isn’t trans herself, says she felt angered by the way transgender kids were discussed during the debate.

“Trans kids in schools were not able to do anything,” she says.

The year 11 student has been going to human rights protests since she was 12, and in recent years has been a part of School Strike 4 Climate, a series of international protests by students calling for greater action on climate change.

Ms Potter is keen to vote on issues that she says disproportionately affect young people.

“Climate change, the cost of living, housing prices, and mental health would be reasons I would like to be able to vote and other people my age would too”, she says.

Ms Potter turns 18 in September, after the federal election. When eligible to vote, she says she will vote for the Greens.

Parisa Najarian, 16, who attends Suzanne Cory High School in Werribee, says she was disappointed by the federal government’s recent budget announcement.

“There’s too much [money] that’s going on things that don’t help Australians”, she says.

If given the opportunity to vote Ms Najarian, an aspiring medical student, says she would vote for Labor in the upcoming federal election because “they have better policies for working-class people”.

Professor of political science at the Australian National University, Ian McAllister, argues there is no evidence 16-year-olds are more politically engaged. He believes allowing them to vote would not guarantee an increase in voting numbers among young people.

“When the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18, abstention among younger people was remarkably high”, Professor McAllister says.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, young Australians are traditionally less likely to enrol to vote.

Around 85 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 are enrolled to vote, compared to 96.3 per cent of the broader population.

Professor McAllister says the debate in Australia had not seen as much momentum as in the UK and Europe.

“Around 15 per cent of people in Australia support lowering the age compared to around 40 per cent in Britain and Europe”, he says.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.