Dealing with democracy’s disconnect

Statistics from the Victorian Electoral Commission show that at the 2022 Victorian state election the participation rate among voters aged 18 to 24 was 84 per cent, which was 4 per cent less than the statewide average and a 2 per cent decline from the 2018 election.

Participation rates among young voters in some electorates dropped to between 75 and 78 per cent. And currently 52,389 young people aged under 25 have not yet signed up to vote.

With issues like education, employment, housing and climate change affecting young people now and into their futures, the opportunities they have for sharing their views and ideas are in the spotlight, particularly as the next state election approaches.

‘I don't think young people are apathetic. I think they care deeply about the world,’ said Ryan Batchelor, Member for Southern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council and Chair of the Council’s Environment and Planning Committee, which has just completed hearings for its community consultation practices inquiry.

‘I think they are engaged in different ways. And I think this is a challenge for parliament,’ he said, noting that existing engagement mechanisms were designed in a different era.

Letters to MPs and committee inquiry responses are being swapped for online petitions and virtual lobbying on social media.

Batchelor thinks that just because young people are not directly interacting with parliament it does not mean they are not interested or don’t want to be consulted.

‘Our task as elected representatives, as the parliament, as government, is to figure out how we best tap into their conversations, rather than think just because we can't hear them that they're not being heard,’ he said.

Before getting elected in 2022, Aiv Puglielli, Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council, was among the cohort of young people who did not use parliamentary mechanisms to any significant degree.

‘Reflecting back, I would have maybe signed a petition or two in my time,’ he said.

Now, as the spokesperson in his party for young people, he is more aware of the opportunities that exist for input. But he recognises it’s a choice that people make depending on the impact they think they can have.

‘What are people going towards? I think it's things which feel most immediate and direct,’ he said.

Member for Warrandyte in the Legislative Assembly, Nicole Werner points to gaps in our education system, with the 2024 National Assessment Program on Civics and Citizenship recording a large decline in political literacy amongst teenagers.

The report found only 34 per cent of year ten students have ‘proficient’ understanding of politics in Victoria, the lowest score yet recorded.

‘We could do more in that early stage in education,’ Werner said, ‘rather than after the fact or through attempts from parliament to get the message across.’

The focus, she said, should be on: ‘how does this impact my life, and how does my vote impact my life?’

According to Werner, empowerment is an important part of the learning process and needs to be embedded in the curriculum.

Concurring that civics education is valuable, Puglielli emphasises that combating youth disillusionment is about showing young people how their voice matters and how they can affect change through collective action.

On issues such housing and climate change, Puglielli believes political inaction is at the core of youth disconnect from and distrust of institutions.

‘I find often it's young people who are the most politically aware at the moment on some of these existential crises that we're facing,’ he said.

Young people are getting involved in specific issue campaigns in preference to participation in formal politics.

‘They know what they want to see action on, and they're asking us to take that action,’ Puglielli said.

Werner believes MPs can break down barriers by using their proximity to community to ensure young people are listened to.

‘It's about making sure that youth voices are represented,’ she said. ‘I said this in my inaugural speech, that you won't find me making decisions from an ivory tower.

‘You'll find me in my community, listening to the voices and the views of the people who will be affected by the decisions that we make in parliament.’

To better reach young people, Batchelor sees a need for institutions like parliament to change tack rather than simply focus on ways that people have been engaged in the past.

‘It's mode shift, partly it's shifting the way we talk, how we talk, but also who we talk to, the mechanisms we use,’ he said.

‘We've actually got to start changing the way we do our engagement and meet young people where they are.’

Puglielli suggests that Victoria should follow in the UK’s footsteps and lower the voting age to sixteen.

‘I think there is no substitute for that direct sense of democracy and that power,’ he said.

‘If you aren't supportive of what's being enacted by your current government, you can vote them out. That is the power that you have as the people.’

Other countries with a voting age of 16 include Austria and Brazil.

‘It means that there is a very direct buy-in that people have, that they are voting for themselves and their future,’ he said.

Batchelor hopes the community consultation inquiry will help Victorians from all demographics feel heard.

‘Often, young people feel like the parliamentary committee processes aren't for them, and that's just wrong,’ he said.

‘Everyone's got the same right to have their say, and they should make sure to do it.’