Bill Shorten to push for lower voting age

The government has dismissed Labor’s plan to lower the voting age as a bid to cloud poor poll numbers.

Bill Shorten has charged his youth spokesman, Sam Dastyari, to produce a recom­mendation on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 or 17.

The federal government has dismissed Labor’s plans to lower the voting age to 16 as a gimmick.

Bill Shorten will today back lowering the voting age below 18 in a bid to increase the engagement of young people in the political process.

The Opposition Leader, in a speech to the NSW Young Labor conference, will argue that more than 17,000 16- and 17-year-olds paid $41 million in taxes in 2012-13 and deserve a say in Australia’s democracy.

“If Australia trusts our 16- and 17-year-old citizens to pay tax and work, to join the military, to drive on our roads, to fly a plane, to make independent decisions about their medical care, then we, the parliament of Australia, should extend that trust to include a direct, empowered say in our democracy,’’ he will say.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dismissed the idea, which has also gained the support of the Greens.

“I don’t believe there will be much public support (for it),” cabinet minister Mathias Cormann told Sky News today.

Mr Shorten has charged his youth spokesman, Sam Dastyari, to consult with community leaders and young people across the country and produce a recom­mendation on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 or 17. Labor will take the policy to the election.

An analysis by Ian McAllister, from the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University, suggested that if the voting age were lowered to include 16- and 17-year-olds, about 474,000 extra voters would come on to the electoral roll, or about 3 per cent of the total electorate.

According to the analysis, the Labor vote would remain unchanged, the Coalition vote would decline by 0.2 per cent and the Greens and other vote would increase by 0.1 per cent.

Mr Shorten argues that military service can begin at 17, with an application available from 16½. Young people are also ­legally allowed to leave home at 16 and some states will issue firearms licences to 14-year-olds.

A Labor policy document on the issue argues that directly involving 16- and 17-year-olds in Australia’s democracy is a chance to engage young people in an important conversation about civic responsibility, community values and expectations, and help them become prod­uctive members of society.

Mr Shorten will argue that politics has a participation problem. “Consider this: 400,000 Australians turned 18 between 2010 and 2013 and did not enrol to vote,’’ he will say.

He will argue that Australia will not be able to overcome the challenges of the next 15 to 20 years without participation of the younger generation.

Lowering the voting age is in the national interest, say the Greens who have welcomed reports that Labor also supports the change.

“It is absolutely in the national interest to have young people more engaged in their democracy and actively participating in decisions on who represents them,” Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters in Melbourne.

“Good on Labor for moving towards the Greens long-held view.”

Additional reporting: AAP