Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today I rise to introduce the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Lowering the Voting Age) Bill 2023, a bill to lower the voting age in Australia to 16. Around the world, young people are making their voices heard on the issues that matter to them most. Across the globe, we are seeing the ever increasing politicisation of young people driven by government inaction, and Australia is no stranger to this. Young people are more engaged in politics than ever before and are already taking actions outside of the political system to shape the future that they will inherit. These actions happen because young people want to drive change on the crises that are facing our society: climate change, access to health care, housing affordability and racial justice. These are issues that young people are passionate about, because they are the ones who stand to lose the most from government inaction.

To be growing up in a time of rising rates of inequality and poverty as well as climate change and to see the top one per cent become wealthier and wealthier at the expense of working and middle-class families is more than enough to mobilise young people to want to fight for a fairer future. I commend the efforts of young people across the country and their engagement in grassroots action to ensure that their voices are heard. But there is still so far to go. Demonstrations are ongoing, because we aren't seeing action on the climate crisis. Australian students are being saddled with ever-increasing debt, and the leaders they are looking to do not seem to have the political will to take the actions we so desperately need.

Lowering the voting age to 16 would give young people the opportunity to have a real say over the politics and policies that will impact them for the rest of their lives. It would force elected representatives to be accountable to the young people they represent and would give young people a say in our democracy—a say they have clearly demonstrated that they deserve. Lowering the voting age isn't just important to ensure that young people's voices are heard, though; it's important for the future of our democracy. The last federal election had a historically low rate of voter participation, with voter turnout falling to below 90 per cent for the first time since the introduction of compulsory voting. The Australian compulsory voting system is one that we should be proud of. We give every citizen not just the right but also the responsibility to have a say in who represents them in parliament.

But as engagement with our voting system continues trending downward, it is important that we take proactive steps to increase participation. Examples from around the world have shown that lowering the voting age to 16 has resulted in increased participation, not just in those first two years of voting but throughout the voter's lifetime. The Scottish independence referendum, for example, saw 16- and 17-year-olds turn out to vote in higher numbers than their older counterparts. Germany has now decided to lower the voting age to 16 at the federal level after seeing positive outcomes at various state levels. States that had a voting age of 16 saw higher participation rates in democracy as these cohorts aged, versus states that had a voting age of 18. Increasing participation would mean that we could address the scale of the crises our country faces today. It would give those who will inherit the future that we in this place decide a say in who represents them.

I want to say thank you to the grassroots organisers who have been campaigning on this for many, many years, some of whom are in the building today. I look forward to seeing some of you sitting down here in the future.

Young people are desperate to make their voices heard. Expanding voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds to give them true representation in this place is not only the least we can do for them; it's a political inevitability.

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