Madonna King: Australia’s voting age should drop to 16 - this is why
Our teens are volunteering in droves, understand bitcoin and can start small businesses from their bedrooms. They can drive, pay tax and donate blood, so why can’t they vote? Madonna King asks.
Opinion
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At 16 our children can do almost anything except vote - and it’s time they were given that right.
They can drive. Do adult time for an adult crime. Have their own tax file number, and pay tax. They are registered blood donors, and can visit a doctor without their parents’ knowledge.
They can have sex, and marry with the permission of a court.
Many 16-year-olds are now living outside of the family home, holding down jobs, and setting up small businesses from their bedrooms. Many have their own superannuation accounts.
They understand bitcoin and an online world their parents do not know exist. And at 16 or 17 years in Australia, you can even enrol to vote; you just can’t lodge a ballot paper until you turn that magical age of 18.
Our teens are volunteering in droves, particularly on issues relating to animals and the environment.
Most have travelled more than their parents did at the same age, are articulate and savvy, and can prosecute a case with clarity and passion.
And we keep talking down to them like toddlers in our care.
The UK’s decision to drop the voting age from 18 to 16 in time for the next national election should be applauded. About 1.6 million people will cast their ballot; a move that could shake up both old positions and old views.
We need to do the same here. Increasingly, every bit of expert advice points to the importance of giving a voice to those at the centre of our decision making.
And yet teens, particularly those aged 16 to 18, are left stranded, with no part in decisions that impact them now, and into their future.
Other countries - like Argentina, Austria and Brazil - have done this, and the sky hasn’t yet fallen in. In Britain, those over 16 can vote in local elections in both Wales and Scotland.
So what is stopping us doing it here?
Indeed, this should even appeal to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The British experience, like Australia, is that young people lean toward Labour.
According to the Economist, more than 30 per cent of 18-35 year olds favour Labour - but that spirals to the mid-teens for those in their 60s.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made the point that 16 year olds were old enough to work and old enough to pay tax and “if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on’’.
He’s spot on. And we should remember that Australia decided to lower its voting age to 18 in the 1970s alert to the hypocrisy of conscripting young men for the Vietnam War before they were even allowed to vote.
Our children are older, at a young age now. That is, in large part, because of what they are seeing and hearing. They are engaged, understand issues in a way we could never at 16, and are calling out to belong in national discussions.
More than 1.8 million young Australians aged 18 to 24 are enrolled to vote, a number that has continued to grow over recent years. That accounts for 91 per cent of all eligible young citizens.
Why not engage those aged 16 to 18 too, in determining our future. And their future? Perhaps some might put their hand up for Parliament.
Our teens have strong views, and today they are on TikTok doing all sorts of things they should not. But they are also discussing issues - from the value of preference voting to how we should deal with China.
As politicians and parents and policy makers, we are just not hearing that - because we struggle to navigate the world they inhabit.
Increasingly our politicians are setting up youth parliaments or youth advisory committees or young leadership workshops to tap into their thinking, and steal their ideas.
Why not just give them the right to vote?
So much of what we hear about young people is when a few fall into the wrong side of the law.
If they commit a crime, we’re told, they’re now an adult - and cop the consequences. Adult time for an adult crime.
But if you have an adult mind to commit an adult crime, why don’t they have an adult mind when it comes to election time?
Originally published as Madonna King: Australia’s voting age should drop to 16 - this is why
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