Youth disenfranchised in Australian politics

Every election time, a fraction of the population turn up to a polling place, muttering under their breath, and give withering looks to the volunteers offering them “How to Vote” cards.

They wait in line to get their name marked off. With their obligations completed for another few years, they hastily scribble a “1” next to the name of whichever candidate happens to come first on the page, and, still muttering, march off home.

Every election time, a fraction of the population doesn’t turn up. Instead, they sit at home, muttering under their breath, and give withering looks to the news anchors as they declare the election in favour of some leader they didn’t vote for.

This is the curse of being young and political. We are forced to sit back and accept a decision made by people who don’t have to live with the consequences. Worse still, we accept the decisions of people who don’t care. Then we get accused of apathy.

During the last federal election, I was in Year 12, one of a handful of students yet to turn 18.

I was sick of watching politicians go in directions I loathed; so I leant on more than a dozen of my overage friends to vote for the Greens on my behalf.

I was not the only one. At least two other people in my year convinced their friends and their families to vote the same way. That’s at least 20 votes for three people. Whatever happened to “one vote, one value?”

My point isn’t to lionise the fact that three kids at a Central Coast public school subverted the democratic process. Nor is it to issue a call to arms for other teenagers to do the same.

My point is that it is arrogant and blatantly inaccurate to call our country a democracy when a demographic of more than half a million citizens is ignored.

The worst thing is that there are a number of simple solutions to the forgotten issue that is youth disenfranchisement.

There’s an old cliche in sport that “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough”. Why can’t the same meritocratic principles apply to optional underage voting?

The federal government’s new national curriculum identifies a number of Basic Learning Entitlements (BLE) — things it believes all Australian kids should learn about.

The national curriculum finishes at the end of Stage 5 (Year 10). If young Australians have been taught these BLEs by the start of senior school, surely they’re equipped with all the knowledge they need to vote.

With retention rates for senior students constantly rising, this would open up a huge, educated demographic able to have a say in the issues that affect them more than anyone else.

Surely, giving passionate young Australians the option to vote is preferable to their disenfranchisement.