Bill Shorten Calls For Voting Age To Be Lowered

[icyfroth]

The nation's voting age should be lowered to 16 because young Australians do not see their views reflected in Parliament, according to Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

In a speech to the New South Wales Young Labor conference in Sydney today, Mr Shorten said if people aged 16 and 17 can drive, work, pay taxes, join the military and make their own choices about medical treatment, they should also be allowed to vote.

Entire Article Here

Ooh getting desperate for votes now, Mr Shorton?

[zanadoo_56]

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@*kazumi* wrote:

I am all for giving kids the right, but NOT for it to be compulsory.  Those who are interested could vote, while the ignorant would not have to. 

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And so the disenchanted wouldn't have to vote either.

I'd love to fogo voting in an election until there is someone (and some policies) actually worth voting for.

[moonflyte]

He's desperate but Labor will have to stick with him even knowing, he will lead them into defeat.

[monman12]

500,000 people aged 18 to 24 are not registered to vote

ABC Jul 2013

"There's a lot of personality politics going on and not so much focusing on policies, and I think that kind of deters young people from wanting to vote."

"The Australian Electoral Commission estimated that 1.22 million eligible people were not enrolled to vote for the 2013 federal election. Around 400,000 of these were young voters who had failed to enrol.

Perhaps someone should tell Shorten , whilst these people have not enrolled,  if they do "join" , they will not pay weekly dues so there will be no funds to nick!

 

[debra9275]

speaking of 'nicking'  funds

did the LIbs ever get their money back from their state director?

The Liberal Party has been dealt a devastating blow after allegations former Victorian state director Damien Mantach embezzled up to $1.5 million worth of party funds.

I'm not sure on the low voting age, but I think kids that age are far more wordly now than they used to be... also, they are old enough to work

[moonflyte]

Hes worse than that gadfly Dastayri, flitting here and flitting there dropping a populist thought   bubble  wherever he lands.

[icyfroth]

They're like a bunch of 16yo's they way they run their party lol...

[moonflyte]

Poor Used Bill, he prefaces everything he says with “ I believe ”, well guess what Overdue Bill? nobody believes you comrade.

[myoclon1cjerk]

Who cares? Tony Thatcher's gone 😄

[lyndal1838]

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@springyzone wrote:

I noticed he made the claim some of them pay taxes so they should get a vote.

Well, some 2 year olds might have to pay taxes in some circumstances, so i can't see that that is any reasonable argument.

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My 5 and 9 year olds paid tax on an inheritance they received from their great grandmother.  It sat in the bank for a while and tax was levied on every dollar of interest at (I think) 66%.  It was wicked, but who in their right mind would would think that a 5 and 9 year old should get a vote just because they paid a hefty tax rate.

We very quickly found another investment that effectively cut out the tax

[moonflyte]

Poor Cancelled Bill is so desperate that he now wants teens to vote hoping that he can twitter them into voting Labor.

Every time he opens his mouth (and that's for interminable long and mind numbing "announcements") he's digging a deeper hole for himself.

He refuses to answer questions, he's moderated himself to the extent that he's made himself even more hollow that he was before.

I wonder what Plib and Albo are doing behind the scenes?