I was under the assumption that the consiitution states (section 34 i)that a member must be 21 years or older? Am I wrong

Don't know good point. Will go looking now. Do you have a specific clause in mind?

Either way his election is a prime example of the unthinking QLD vote at this election. They may well have had much to be angry about but to elect a child to go to represent them in Canberra is questionable. What hope does this chid have of being reelected?

Well spotted wellie.

Australian Constitution - Section 34 - Qualifications of members

Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives shall be as follows:-

(i.) He must be of the full age of twenty-one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualifies to become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he was chosen:

(ii.) He must be a subject of the Queen, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalized under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become or becomes a State, or of the Commonwealth, or of a State.

I smell a by-election. At least he bats for Abbotts team otherwise there might be a slush fund ready to send him to jail for fraud.

"Until the Parliament otherwise provides"

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/cea1918233/s163.html
--
COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 163
Qualifications for nomination [see Note 6]

(1) A person who:

(a) has reached the age of 18 years;

(b) is an Australian citizen; and

(c) is either:

(i) an elector entitled to vote at a House of Representatives election; or

(ii) a person qualified to become such an elector;

is qualified to be elected as a Senator or a member of the House of Representatives.

(2) A person is not entitled to be nominated for election as a Senator or a member of the House of Representatives unless the person is qualified under subsection (1).

--

Time will tell how well he goes but I'm not convinced that others who have spent their lives in trade union roles or as lawyers have a better understanding of the real world.

R0bert

Bugsy,
I believe it also says,

s 34 of the Constitution says in part:
"Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives shall be as follows:
"(i.) He must be of the full age of twenty-one years..."

Parliament did otherwise provide in s 163 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, which reads in part:
"A person who: (a) has reached the age of 18 years."

Looking at this i would imagine it will be ok.

Oh, come now, nairbe.

>>They may well have had much to be angry about but to elect a child to go to represent them in Canberra is questionable<<

I distinctly recall that at the age of twenty I knew absolutely everything there was to know.

Women. Politics. How to balance twin carburettors.

Everything.