Correction, 18 year old's voted in their first Federal election May 1974.

Much of the opposition to reduce the voting age as we can
see depends on ageism and the flawed idea that young people
lack sufficient moral judgement, cognitive ability or life
experience to vote responsibly.

This has been proven to be BS. However it's due to the fact that
as with the Voice to Parliament - some people are scared of
losing what they think they have. And are against any changes.
And this is not confined only to certain political parties.
More needs to be done with providing information and not
allowing misinformation to take hold.

There's plenty of research showing that 16 year olds do have
sufficient ethical and cognitive capacities to form
political judgements.

As stated earlier we already know that at 16 you can do paid
work, pay tax, enlist in the military, drive a car, consent to
confidential health care and be charged with criminal offences.

Democracies have always been strengthened when more people are
allowed to vote. It is totalitarian regimes that benefit from
controlling everything. At the same time lowering the voting
ages acknowledges the national and global crises that young
people are experiencing and will inherit.

Supporting the vote for young people who, by definition have the
greatest at stake in the political process is the least
that older generations can do to redress this unbalance.

HI Foxy,

I must say at 16 I was political, very interested in the issues of the day, war, peace, disarmament, nuclear proliferation, world poverty, rights of workers etc. I joined the Labor Party, only to resign some years later in disgust. My father was very political and pro Labor, as a young bloke he sided with NSW Premier Jack Lang in opposition to the mainstream ALP, which brought about an early split in the party.

I completely agree that the voting age should be lowered to 16, after all 16 year olds are educated and responsible people and I’m sure that the other advocates for lowering the voting age will agree with me that the age to get a full firearm licence should be reduced from 18 t0 16, after all why should politically aware people be excluded simply because of age?
The same should apply to full driver’s licences, marriage, bank loans, adoptions, mortgages etc.
But unfortunately it does not 16 year olds are discriminated against.

Dear Paul,

I was the exact opposite. I lived in a conservative
bubble and was not in the slightest bit interested
in politics until after I got married and we went
to the United States. Things changed whilst I was
over there.

I think it's stupid.
16 or 17 years olds don't have the life experience or intelligence to make informed decisions.

But you know what, since voting doesn't even matter anyway...
- The only choice is whether or not we get screwed by this party, or by that party.
I'm willing to go along with it, on conditions.

Let the moron kids vote for more of your climate cult crap that you indoctrinate them with from the moment they start school.
It's not like the people who disagreed ever had any choice anyway.

But you must be prepared to treat them like adults in other way too.
You'll have to lower the drinking age to 16.
You'll have to make them eligible for unemployment benefits at 16 regardless how much their parents earn;
And finally, any 16 year old that commits a crime MUST be considered an adult and punished as one as well.
Also any dirty old man can exploit and have sex with 16 year old girls without penalty of law as well.
- This doesn't apply to me, I'm not interested in kids, but if you want to open this can of worms you may as well embrace it.

- I see this as a way to manipulate the voting system in line with schools 'green' 'indoctrination in teaching' agendas,
It essentially amounts to vote rigging in a quasi-legal way.