I’m against it. I can’t see how lowering the voting age would improve our governance. Surely that is the bottom line here.

We should be looking at things like banishing the disgusting compulsory preferential voting system, making it formal to vote for no candidate where a voter feels than none on offer deserve their vote, and many others.

I reckon voting should remain compulsory. But I agree with CJ that there should be some requirement to demonstrate a minimum level of knowledge about electoral systems, government and key issues before you get to vote. You’d forego your right to vote if you didn’t pass, and pay a fine instead.

The human brain matures at 25 [case against?]. Teenagers rate higher than most adults on Lawrence Kolberg's Morality Pysch. Code [case for?]. Perhaps, 16 year olds should able to vote in referenda only on matters affecting youth.

Ludwig & Oliver

You're both against 16 year olds having a say in governance, where do you stand on driving? In Australia teens can drive at 16, 17 or 18, depending on the state.

Would you make young people wait until their 20's before they could drive as well?

For the record in Victoria, 18 is the legal age for a driver's licence, but I was driving cars and riding motorbikes around the back roads when I was 16 and glad of the experience.

Given the dangers on the road, compared with casting a vote - I fail to see why you both are against introducing young people to politics at 16. Just saying the brain hasn't developed enough is not good enough, should we start applying IQ tests for potential voters as well?

I'm for it.

But I also agree that it should be optional rather than compulsory.

Sixteen year olds should be able to have a say in something that will
affect them greatly, i.e. - their future.

Imagine letting people have a say - people who can actually see possibilities, instead of problems...

I think lowering the voting age will go a long way towards making all of us consider our future in a different light. Perhaps it will motivate some of us to be active rather than passive - and it will certainly allow the young to participate more fully in shaping their destiny.

Surely the only thing holding us back now is not believing that they have the ability to take big steps. Lowering the voting age will help us believe.

Fractelle, I’m not against 16 years-olds having a say in government. In fact, I’d very strongly encourage them to do so. But there are much better ways of facilitating it, for the small portion that would be interested, than to give the vote to all 16 year-olds.

I wouldn’t have a problem with 16 year-olds driving if we had a rigorous driver-training program that was compulsory in order to get a licence and a policing regime that effectively kept drivers (of all ages) operating safely.

We don’t have those things. Not by a long shot. So I would say resoundingly that 16 year-olds should not be driving.

I'd cast my thoughts in with optional voting for 16 and 17 year olds.

If they're genuinely interested enough to go out and vote at 16, then odds are, they're more politically informed than the majority of Australians.

As for brains 'not being formed until 25' heck, I've seen plenty of evidence that brains aren't necessarily 'formed' at much older ages than that...