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Laura, there's a huge conversation coming out of the UK at the moment and it has come over here to Australia because we often follow suit with what the UK does. But basically the Prime Minister, Sir Kiirs Starmer, has said that he's going to lower the voting age in the UK for the next election.
Do you think he's popular with the young uins? Is that why? Maybe?
I don't know, but from there are in the age from eighteen to sixteen years old. Now the vote is not going to be compulsory, but they're allowed to do it now. This is kickstarted a bit of a divide between young people and people, you know, in the older demographic. Some people are saying, one hundred percent, if you're old enough to work and you're old enough to pay taxes, you're old enough to contribute to the way you see
your government. And I would want to agree with that, But then there's another bunch of people saying, well, hang on, technically, brains aren't even fully developed. Do they quite have the life experience? Yet you're not able to buy a lottery ticket. We're seeing you're not capable enough to be able to drink alcohol, but you can vote for the government. So there's I don't know, this is divide between two sides. How do you feel about lowering the voting age to sixteen?
I mean, firstly, is it not compulsory because it's like just the sixteen to eighteen or is it just voting in the UK is not compulsory.
Anyway, Voting in the UK isn't compulsory, gotcha. And I guess the way I feel is I do think that you should be able to vote at sixteen, and I like the fact that it's not compulsory because we don't have that choice.
Yeah, look, I'm not against it. I think it's truefold though, right Like, if sixteen year olds are working, if they're paying taxes, I mean, they're the ones who are going to have to live in the in the world or the country for a lot longer than the really old people who are also voting, So I guess like they should have a say in the government that is going to be making decisions for their welfare.
The only thing is is that I also think that.
Maybe politics should be more taught in school so that kids have.
A better literacy for it.
Because the problem is is for a sixteen year old, unless they are seeking out that information themselves, and unless they're educating themselves on their government policies and politics and everything else, which may not be happening at that age, then I wonder like, well.
Are they making informed choices?
And I think it's probably a bit of a stretch to be like, sixteen year olds don't have fully formed brains. There's fully fledged adults who don't have fully formed brains either, but they're still, you.
Know, at sixteen year olds whose brains are more formed than yeah.
And so I think that that's an unfair stance.
But I think making sure that information is readily available that you know, people who are sixteen have, and I guess like, if it's an opt in situation, that they can be really informed in the decisions that they're making.
I think that's so important. Though.
Well, there's a lot of videos going around online just on Instagram reels that people have gone and just stopped randoms on the street all ages, but there's a lot of young kids that they stopped to ask them their own opinions, and some of them said no, like, don't give us that responsibility.
There's no way we're ready.
But then there was one that stands out for me.
But he just said, I absolutely we want to.
Be able to vote. I think we should be able to vote because we are interested in contributing to our future. And then he said, having said that, will we be influenced by our parents? Absolutely, and that is a risk you're going to take right, Like, and I even think about us growing up. I used to say to my parents when I was younger, who are you voting for? And then I just go vote for them when I didn't.
Have the wealth of knowledge.
But he said, the only reason we've being influenced by our parents is because we're not.
Taught enough at school.
So to come back into this full circle loop, the thing is there is so much information online now accessible to everyone that wasn't around when we were sixteen.
Yeah, but I think on the flip side of this, and I absolutely don't want to be age just with this at all, because you know, I think you've worked so hard to contribute to the country that you live in.
You have a right to.
Vote up until the age that you're not able to vote anymore. But there are people in their eighties who will still be voting and they're not going to be here to see the world that they're contributing to or the country that they're voting for. So is someone who is like you know, rearing and getting near to the
end of their life. Is their opinion on the country more important than someone who's going to spend their entire life living in it, In which case I'm kind of like, maybe it's maybe it is important to let people who are slightly younger have more of an input. But I absolutely come back to the education piece that I'm like, I just don't want anyone who's uneducated or doesn't is just doing it for the sake of doing it. Voting and maybe the whole non compulsory thing is quite an
important part of this. Whereas in Australia voting is compulsory. It means people who are educated on it are voting, people who are not educated at voting, people are doing donkey votes, people are doing all kinds of things, whereas over there, the people who are voting are people who are considered, who at least have an opinion, I would.
Say, oh, who have made the choice to say yeah, I care enough to do research and physically get up and go and vote. And I think that's the difference if it is brought in in Australia. I would only want it here if it wasn't compulsory from sixteen to eighteen.
Yeah, I mean, well, look, it's an interesting one. We'll see if it actually plays out here.