Older generations
Standing Up For The Young
A campaign to lower the voting age to 16 - in Australia and across the world
Why we are campaigning to extend the vote
It’s too heartbreaking to even think about. That our children and grandchildren face a world of ever worsening chaos and violent collapse. The unfolding climate holocaust won’t even be slowed down unless governments act to keep fossil fuels in the ground. So people all over the world are asking - alongside everything else we are doing, what if we gave young people the vote? And that most basic of rights - a say in their own fate.
Two hundred million people around the world are aged sixteen or seventeen. (Almost half a million in Australia). The evidence is that they are as knowledgeable and motivated as most older people about democracy and climate change. Perhaps they can give democracy the mighty kick in the backside that it needs to wake up and do its job.
Who are we?
We, Steve Biddulph and Jeff McKinnon, come from backgrounds in mental health, and social justice, and we are at an age where we put the lives of all children and grandchildren ahead of our own. We want to mobilise thousands of older people to work in the service of the young. We see securing their right to vote as a potential game-changer in the so far, losing battle against extinction. Will you join us?
Can it be done?
Yes. In 1973 Australia’s incoming PM Gough Whitlam simply passed an act of parliament and lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. We had just seen a war in which most of those fighting were too young to vote. It was patently unfair. Fairness is the basis of democracy. Young people have a right to a say in their future. Sixteen is a compromise age - since it also matches the research into developmental maturity. In fact, a good measure of maturity is the ability to think long term, and to think of others needs and not just one’s selfish gains. Our generation has - as a group - failed the maturity test.
Scotland, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, East Timor, Greece, and Indonesia all have a voting age of 16. . New Zealand is now close to adopting it. Not following suit is ageist, unjust, and undemocratic.
Will young people vote for climate action?
The research into younger people’s voting indicates that 80% vote for climate action, and/or the parties which most support it. Voting patterns by age are very well studied. If more young people had been able to vote there would have been no President Trump, no Brexit, no Boris Johnson, and no Scott Morrison. Just think about that.
How to help
Our strategy is twofold. Firstly, to simply spread the idea, and the arguments for extending the vote to young people. Because sometimes when an idea’s time has come, it can become unstoppable. We ask your help to talk to friends and family, and get the word out. We will help with simple materials - newsletters, social media, and resources that you can share to get people talking.
Secondly, organising. We hope that some might hold house meetings, watch our video about this cause, form small SUFTY groups, and if you feel stirred to action, actually interview your local MP’s, federal, state, and councillors. We will collate their responses and publish them on this website. So that by the next election cycle, a youth vote is high on the agenda.
We are older people standing up for younger people. Young people have said they want the vote. We are using our power and resources as people whom history treated kindly, to stand with those who have no power, and no say. And the little children being born right now, who won’t see the other side of forty, if we fail.
Please, simply join our newsletter.
That’s the best help to us right now.
And start to talk to your friends…
We will update you from there.
Photo: Ariel Reist