Andrew Braddock, MLA, supports lowering the voting age to 16. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A petition calling for the voting age in the ACT to be lowered to 16 was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday (5 September), with Greens MLA Andrew Braddock expressing support for the reform to be made law.
The petition was initiated by Parker Jakab-van Dooren, a student at University of Canberra High School Kaleen, and garnered 120 signatures.
“The majority of sixteen and seventeen year olds already work and pay taxes, but don’t get a say on how those taxes are spent. This is taxation without representation. Sixteen year olds can already legally undertake a lot of ‘adult’ actions. Sixteen and Seventeen year olds can drive, consent to sex and medical procedures, leave school or home, pay rent, join the armed forces, and work full time,” the petition read.
“There is no reason to withhold from them the right to vote. Many other countries including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Malta, Scotland, Germany and Wales have already lowered the voting age to 16. New Zealand and Canada may soon follow their lead.”
In 2023, the Greens introduced a bill to the Legislative Assembly to reduce the voting age to 16. It was voted down by the Labor and Liberal parties.
Mr Braddock reiterated his support for the reform to be made.
“Young people have the right to be heard and have a say in the policies that affect their lives… they will live with the result of decisions made in this place for far longer than any other voting cohort,” he said.
“The expansion of voting rights from men without property, to women, to Indigenous people to those aged 18 to 21 has shown that the franchise is not fixed, it has changed over the last 100 years and it can change again… I’ll also note that UK Labor also introduced this as part of this manifesto before the last election.”
Young Labor MLA Michael Pettersson, who sponsored the petition, expressed general support for its sentiments without explicitly endorsing it.
“Our democracy benefits from having more people participating in it, not less. I have heard compelling reasons that sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds can be trusted with the immense responsibility that is voting,” he said
“I think I joined the Australian Labor Party at the age of 17, or 16, I remember what it felt like to be a young person that was very politically active… [but] there are legitimate concerns regarding how lowering the voting age would interact with the essential cornerstone of our democracy, that being compulsory voting.”
In opposing the Greens 2023 Bill to lower than voting age, Special Minister of State Chris Steel raised concerns about having to punish children who didn’t vote.
“While we think that the majority of young people would vote if the franchise was extended to 16-year-olds, a significant number wouldn’t and therefore would be issued a fine. If they don’t pay the fine, they would be put before the court and have to pay hundreds of dollars in court fees, $288 in court fees, and other lawyers’ fees on top of that,” he said.
Loading ...
