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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (17 April) . . Page.. 969 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I am very surprised that my colleagues have decided to rubbish this idea before we even table the legislation, particularly when it is an issue that is starting to be debated more and more around Australia and around the world. We would all see it as unjust to deny women or indigenous people the right to vote now; yet the response of our colleagues is similar to the response of the establishment when votes for indigenous people or women were flagged in the past.

Nearly everyone in our community would agree with the principles of universal suffrage and would agree that young people have a lot to contribute to political and social life. At the age of 14, young people are assumed by the criminal justice system to fully understand their actions; at 15, they can leave school or get a pilots licence; at 16, they can join most political parties; at 17, they can drive a car in the ACT; and at 16 they can make decisions about their health care. Young adults under 18 can marry, live independently and are certainly eligible to pay taxes. So why do they have no vote?

Children and young adults have very few avenues to participate in decisions made by our political institutions, despite the fact that children have quite different needs and views from older people. Mr Humphries says that jet ski rides at $15 a go would be an answer to the recreation needs of young people in Tuggeranong. What did the young people think of that? Maybe if they had a vote, politicians would pay more attention to the special needs of young people and their views.

Education, youth recreation, employment and the environment are some of the key issues that young people want to have a greater say in. I wonder what youth unemployment would be if 16-year-olds could vote. There is much talk about crime in Civic, about under-age drinking problems. Young people are even blamed for their own unemployment. We expect them to be responsible citizens, but we deny them one of the most fundamental rights in our society - the right to vote. We call four young people on a street corner a threat. Police ask for move-on powers to move young people. No wonder young people are feeling unrepresented in our political circles!

Mr Osborne: I have 29-year-old friends who are not responsible.

Ms McRae: I am hoping not to be responsible until I am at least 60.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Ms Tucker has the floor.

MS TUCKER: Young people are also our future; they have good ideas that should be listened to. They contribute to our society economically, in sports and in the arts. If young people are so fundamental to the future of our community, they deserve to have a say.

The Greens believe that the denial of political rights on the basis of an arbitrary age restriction is discrimination. It should be for those who argue against lowering the voting age to justify their position and come up with compelling reasons for differential treatment. I have yet to see in research any such argument. All I have heard from anybody in this place is, "Rubbish!". There is no debate happening here yet, obviously.

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