The Press WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1972. A chance to vote at 18

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32966, 12 July 1972, Page 16

The Press WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1972. A chance to vote at 18

Parliament is again being asked to consider a lowering of the age limit for electors. The bill offered by Mr C. J. Moyle, the member for Manukau, should be seriously considered to test Parliamentary opinion. At its 1969 conference the Labour Party agreed to include in that year’s election manifesto a promise to reduce from 21 to 18 years the age of enrolment as voters. The National Party’s conference, three months later, agreed that the voting age should be reduced to 20. With this party mandate the Government introduced amending legislation and won the undivided support of the House for lowering the voting age to 20. When the Labour Party election manifesto appeared it promised that Parliament would be given the opportunity to consider any further lowering of the voting age only after a thorough examination of such a proposal by a properly constituted committee of inquiry. The Labour Party conference this year was offered a remit proposing that the voting age remain at 20. A conference committee amended the limit to 18 years; but the conference’s time ran out before it could endorse the committee’s recommendation. Mr Moyle’s bill now shows that the Parliamentary Labour Party has made up its mind to support a change to 18 without any committee inquiries.

During the 1969 debate Dr A. M. Finlay, the member for Waitakere, said he would have preferred a more radical measure to reduce the voting age to 18. Like other Opposition speakers, he complained that the House had not considered a petition to this end, which was then before the petitions committee of the House. But Dr Finlay said he would be surprised if there were overwhelming support — even among those aged 18 to 21 — for a reduction of the limit to 18. A poll among young people would probably show a predominant response of indifference, he said. “My conviction is that in this group the “ attitude to Parliament is to treat it as an anachron- “ istic and irrelevant institution ”, he said; “ and this “is a view which is by no means confined to people “ of that age ”, Dr Finlay felt that, by proffering a greater participation in the democratic process, Parliamentarians might “just possibly” redress this view against Parliament.

The National Party conference this month will consider a remit seeking a lowering of the voting age to 18. If the remit is passed the Government might be induced to amend the law again on the basis of a party decision; at the very least it would have to propose a change in its election programme. Just as the 18-year limit has been set in other countries it would have to be set in New Zealand by estimating the political maturity of 18 and 19-year-olds as a class — not by reference to the maturity of a few. Much of the law concerning the age of majority has been designed to protect the young; and there are frequently demands for the better education of yonng neonle t« nrenare them for a more complicated world. This may seem to run against the argument for younger voters. The laws concerning jury service, court penalties, overseas military service, marriage without parental consent, school attendance, contracts, drinking in hotels, and other matters have to be taken into account: for a decision on the voting age might well influence decisions on some other legal restrictions. Of course, if the law were changed 18-year-olds would not have to vote. The Australian Prime Minister (Mr McMahon) recently said that most Australians do not yet accept that an 18-year-old is “ necessarily ” of adult status. In Australia both enrolment and voting are compulsory; in New Zealand enrolment is but voting is not compulsory. A public opinion poll in Australia last week showed that nearly two out of three persons there approve a voting age of 18: in the 18 to 21-vear-old group the rate of approval ran slightly higher. New Zealand opinion today, in spite of Dr Finlav’s guess, might be similar. In any event Parliament should lead not follow popular oninion There is little evidence of any change in the attitudes of 18 to 20-vear-olds towards the electoral process since 1969. But as the 1969 decision to lower the voting age to 20 was preceded by so I'tfle indener'ienf inquirv and puhiie debate. Mr Movie’s hill should be given a sympathetic hearing.