Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

What we have heard in the debate so far is opposition to 16- and 17-year-olds getting the right to vote from the Liberal Party, and lukewarm noncommitment from the ALP. I would ask all members who have contributed to this debate, who have decided to give their view on this issue, to engage in a bit of a thought experiment.

Imagine if you were being asked a really important question about your life, and you were not actually allowed to answer. In fact, imagine that you were legally prevented from answering such a question while other people in another place had a say and were encouraged to use that to make a decision for you—in order to make a choice on your behalf. And imagine all of this being done on the assumption that you cannot make a decision for yourself—that you aren't fit to give your view or to speak your opinion. Doesn't this sound awful? Doesn't it sound even discriminatory? I think the people in this room would absolutely hate it.

This is the reality, when it comes to government, for every person who has yet to turn 18. Don't we think it's unfair that if a young person is looking at 114 new coal and gas projects when people and communities are facing the destruction of climate events, and they want to protest about it and oppose it but they're not allowed to have a say in whether or not those projects go ahead or whether or not those governments are re-elected? Don't we think it's unfair that 16- and 17-year-olds are planning their futures and choosing universities, with the weight of tens of thousands of dollars in debt on their shoulders in education fees, when they should and could have had the ability to have a say at the last election about whether or not those policies should continue and whether university should once again be made free?

Well, the Greens believe in empowering everyone to be involved in decisions that impact them. Decreasing the voting age to 16 will have an enormous impact and be a profound step towards a more inclusive, proactive, working democracy. I'm proud to be part of a team that will push for this and see it done. It is not fair to exclude 16- and 17-year-olds from the democratic system—not at all. It is time to begin fixing the disparities in the system by lowering the voting age to 16.