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Speaker 2: Laura, there's a huge conversation coming out of the UK
Speaker 2: at the moment and it has come over here to
Speaker 2: Australia because we often follow suit with what the UK does.
Speaker 2: But basically the Prime Minister, Sir Kiirs Starmer, has said
Speaker 2: that he's going to lower the voting age in the
Speaker 2: UK for the next election.
Speaker 3: Do you think he's popular with the young uins? Is
Speaker 3: that why? Maybe?
Speaker 2: I don't know, but from there are in the age
Speaker 2: from eighteen to sixteen years old. Now the vote is
Speaker 2: not going to be compulsory, but they're allowed to do
Speaker 2: it now. This is kickstarted a bit of a divide
Speaker 2: between young people and people, you know, in the older demographic.
Speaker 2: Some people are saying, one hundred percent, if you're old
Speaker 2: enough to work and you're old enough to pay taxes,
Speaker 2: you're old enough to contribute to the way you see
Speaker 2: your government. And I would want to agree with that,
Speaker 2: But then there's another bunch of people saying, well, hang on, technically,
Speaker 2: brains aren't even fully developed. Do they quite have the
Speaker 2: life experience? Yet you're not able to buy a lottery ticket.
Speaker 2: We're seeing you're not capable enough to be able to
Speaker 2: drink alcohol, but you can vote for the government. So
Speaker 2: there's I don't know, this is divide between two sides.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about lowering the voting age to sixteen?
Speaker 1: I mean, firstly, is it not compulsory because it's like
Speaker 1: just the sixteen to eighteen or is it just voting
Speaker 1: in the UK is not compulsory.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Voting in the UK isn't compulsory, gotcha. And I
Speaker 2: guess the way I feel is I do think that
Speaker 2: you should be able to vote at sixteen, and I
Speaker 2: like the fact that it's not compulsory because we don't
Speaker 2: have that choice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I'm not against it. I think it's truefold though,
Speaker 1: right Like, if sixteen year olds are working, if they're
Speaker 1: paying taxes, I mean, they're the ones who are going
Speaker 1: to have to live in the in the world or
Speaker 1: the country for a lot longer than the really old
Speaker 1: people who are also voting, So I guess like they
Speaker 1: should have a say in the government that is going
Speaker 1: to be making decisions for their welfare.
Speaker 3: The only thing is is that I also think that.
Speaker 1: Maybe politics should be more taught in school so that
Speaker 1: kids have.
Speaker 3: A better literacy for it.
Speaker 1: Because the problem is is for a sixteen year old,
Speaker 1: unless they are seeking out that information themselves, and unless
Speaker 1: they're educating themselves on their government policies and politics and
Speaker 1: everything else, which may not be happening at that age,
Speaker 1: then I wonder like, well.
Speaker 3: Are they making informed choices?
Speaker 1: And I think it's probably a bit of a stretch
Speaker 1: to be like, sixteen year olds don't have fully formed brains.
Speaker 1: There's fully fledged adults who don't have fully formed brains either,
Speaker 1: but they're still, you.
Speaker 2: Know, at sixteen year olds whose brains are more formed
Speaker 2: than yeah.
Speaker 3: And so I think that that's an unfair stance.
Speaker 1: But I think making sure that information is readily available
Speaker 1: that you know, people who are sixteen have, and I
Speaker 1: guess like, if it's an opt in situation, that they
Speaker 1: can be really informed in the decisions that they're making.
Speaker 3: I think that's so important. Though.
Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of videos going around online just
Speaker 2: on Instagram reels that people have gone and just stopped
Speaker 2: randoms on the street all ages, but there's a lot
Speaker 2: of young kids that they stopped to ask them their
Speaker 2: own opinions, and some of them said no, like, don't
Speaker 2: give us that responsibility.
Speaker 3: There's no way we're ready.
Speaker 2: But then there was one that stands out for me.
Speaker 3: But he just said, I absolutely we want to.
Speaker 2: Be able to vote. I think we should be able
Speaker 2: to vote because we are interested in contributing to our future.
Speaker 2: And then he said, having said that, will we be
Speaker 2: influenced by our parents? Absolutely, and that is a risk
Speaker 2: you're going to take right, Like, and I even think
Speaker 2: about us growing up. I used to say to my
Speaker 2: parents when I was younger, who are you voting for?
Speaker 2: And then I just go vote for them when I didn't.
Speaker 3: Have the wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 2: But he said, the only reason we've being influenced by
Speaker 2: our parents is because we're not.
Speaker 3: Taught enough at school.
Speaker 2: So to come back into this full circle loop, the
Speaker 2: thing is there is so much information online now accessible
Speaker 2: to everyone that wasn't around when we were sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think on the flip side of this,
Speaker 1: and I absolutely don't want to be age just with
Speaker 1: this at all, because you know, I think you've worked
Speaker 1: so hard to contribute to the country that you live in.
Speaker 3: You have a right to.
Speaker 1: Vote up until the age that you're not able to
Speaker 1: vote anymore. But there are people in their eighties who
Speaker 1: will still be voting and they're not going to be
Speaker 1: here to see the world that they're contributing to or
Speaker 1: the country that they're voting for. So is someone who
Speaker 1: is like you know, rearing and getting near to the
Speaker 1: end of their life. Is their opinion on the country
Speaker 1: more important than someone who's going to spend their entire
Speaker 1: life living in it, In which case I'm kind of like,
Speaker 1: maybe it's maybe it is important to let people who
Speaker 1: are slightly younger have more of an input. But I
Speaker 1: absolutely come back to the education piece that I'm like,
Speaker 1: I just don't want anyone who's uneducated or doesn't is
Speaker 1: just doing it for the sake of doing it. Voting
Speaker 1: and maybe the whole non compulsory thing is quite an
Speaker 1: important part of this. Whereas in Australia voting is compulsory.
Speaker 1: It means people who are educated on it are voting,
Speaker 1: people who are not educated at voting, people are doing
Speaker 1: donkey votes, people are doing all kinds of things, whereas
Speaker 1: over there, the people who are voting are people who
Speaker 1: are considered, who at least have an opinion, I would.
Speaker 2: Say, oh, who have made the choice to say yeah,
Speaker 2: I care enough to do research and physically get up
Speaker 2: and go and vote. And I think that's the difference
Speaker 2: if it is brought in in Australia. I would only
Speaker 2: want it here if it wasn't compulsory from sixteen to eighteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well, look, it's an interesting one. We'll
Speaker 1: see if it actually plays out here.