Lowering the voting age to repair Australia's intergenerational divide: RMIT expert comment

Professor Judith Bessant, AM, Global, Urban & Social Studies, RMIT 

Topics: International Youth Day, voting age, voter participation, politics. 

“Lowering the voting age is back on the agenda and this time there is a real prosect Australia may be successful in reducing the voting age to 16 years of age.”  

“Historically extending the right to vote to working class people, to women and to indigenous people demonstrated that voting was not something only elite men should enjoy. Doing this meant our political cultures were transformed and enriched.” 

“Yet one significant part of the world’s population is still denied the right to vote, namely young people under 18. At the same time however we see many young people now acting on a full range of issues from climate change to racial justice, gun regulation, to gender violence and education debt.” 

“Lowering the voting age will strengthen prospects for intergenerational justice and enhance Australia’s democratic culture, help demonstrate that the new federal government values young people’s participation in politics, and boost voter turnout rates. It will also bring us into line with international human rights norms and principles.”       

“Fast track from when that Bill was first introduced to now, and much has happened in the world including a global pandemic and Labor winning office with a Prime Minister backed by a significant increase in Greens and Independents.”        

“Labor’s victory also points to the possibilities of a government committed to improving the quality of young people’s lives by committing to policies which will address climate change.”   

“Other issues critical to intergenerational justice that the government needs to consider include increasing access to affordable housing, and improved job security especially for young people trying to study while also engaged in paid work and doing this in the middle of a global pandemic while being loaded up with HECS debt.”  

Professor Judith Bessant researches and writes in the fields of politics, youth studies, policy, sociology, media-technology studies and history. In 2017 Professor Bessant was awarded an 'Order of Australia' (AM) for her significant service to education as a social scientist, advocate and academic specialising in youth studies research.   

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Interviews: Professor Judith Bessant, AM, 0413 551 505 or judith.bessant@rmit.edu.au

General media enquiries: RMIT Communications: 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au