Page 2577 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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expressed by others who came before the committee, who submitted to it or who we were able to consult.
The reason for the wide divergence of views perhaps falls into two main categories. One is the complexity of the matter—compulsory or non-compulsory, for instance—as well as other feasibility issues, and the other is that, additionally and importantly, the young people who appeared before us expressed very strongly that they believed that some of them lacked sufficient information to be able confidently to face the prospect of voting at the ages of 16 and 17. I draw attention to recommendations 4, 5 and 6 of the report, which read:
The Committee recommends that the Legislative Assembly consider the opportunities provided to young people to actively engage in aspects of the political process and develop strategies to increase participation of young people in formal political events and in processes to provide feedback on policy or legislative proposals.
The Committee recommends that all civics and citizenship resources provide explanations of how public administration can account for the interests and needs of all citizens …
The committee recommends that the Minister for Education and Training ensures that accurate and engaging learning materials, that deal with the specific attributes of the ACT political system and ensure all schools actively promote democratic principles and the attributes of active citizenship, be developed for use in all ACT schools.
The committee also found that section 67B of the Australian Capital Territory Self-Government Act 1988 creates inconsistencies between the ACT and commonwealth electoral acts, and the committee recommends that the Australian parliament be asked to amend this section of the act. Members will also note that the committee recommends that the question be reconsidered before the end of 2010.
I would like to thank my fellow committee members, Mrs Vicki Dunne and Mr Mick Gentleman, and I am sure they would join with me in thanking all those who submitted to us, attended hearings or consulted with the committee. I would also like to thank Dr Sandra Lilburn for her strong support of the committee and her hard work, which were much appreciated, and my thanks go to the Committee Office for its support.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (10.39): I welcome the report of the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People titled Inquiry into the eligible voting age. People will probably remember that I moved a motion on 29 March last year which actually began this process. It seems to me that, if such a motion is ever moved again—and no doubt it will be—we will already have a very thorough body of work and we will not need to refer that motion to a committee next time. With respect to what the committee discovered in its discussions with young people, unfortunately I could not attend all the hearings but at those that I could attend I found that young people were passionately engaged in this question of whether the voting age should be lowered to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to take up that option if they want to.
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