VOTING AGE DEBATED

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 August 1946, Page 8

VOTING AGE DEBATED

QUESTION OF MATURITY OF

YOUTH

AMENDMENT PROPOSED (From C. R. Mentiplay, Special Press Association Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, August 4. The question of when a person is mature enough to'be accorded a voice in the government of his own country will be thoroughly debated, both officially and unofficially, before the Government proposal to lower the voting age in the Federal and State elections to 18 assumes more concrete form? j At present the Federal Government contemplates submitting the proposal to the Premiers’ Conference in Canberra on August. 20.. As this conference .will be held at the height of. the Federal election campaign, with .voting day .five..week's off and the Commonwealth Parliament dissolved, there is no chance of minors having'their say at the ballot boxes this year.

Adult Age

It has long been held in certain quarters that 21 is open to question as the age at which men and women are assumed to become adult. The war has brought a sudden and emotional realisation of that fact to the Australian people.’ Their reaction was that if a man was old enough to die for his country he was old enough to determine who should govern. Accordingly a law was passed giving the vote to *servicemen of 18. This still exists as a wobbly line drawn across the voting strength of the nation, for, of course, an 18-yearold who, for physical or other reasons was debarred from serving is still denied .the vote. Many will be with Professor F. A. Bland, of the Faculty of Public Administration at Sydney University, who states that persons of eighteen are not sufficiently mature to express judgment, in an election, and that the contention that physical fitness for service implies fitness to vote is fallacious. There will be strong backing for the opinion of Mr A. E. Heath, president; of fhe New South Wales Chamber of Commerce, who states that, in the absence of a series of tests which would be difficult to apply, it is the ideal age. Curious Attitude The State president of the Returned Servicemen’s League (Mr Ken Bolton) adopts the curious attitude that, whereas minors who have been discharged from the services should retain the rightb-to vote, fhe admission of other minors who have not seen service should be “very carefully considered.” A constructive suggestion is offered by Mr G. M. .Duncan, secretary of the University Students’ Council, who believes that an elementary test in aptitude should be imposed before anyone, whatever age, is granted the right to vote. '* Whatever the decision, it is plain that opinions on the question range from that of people who consider that fitness for work means fitness for voting, to those who believe, with Mr George Bernard Shaw, that we do not • begin to become politically mature till we reach the age of 70.