At Run For It, we lead the coalition of organisation that supports the Make It 16 campaign, a fully youth-led effort to lower Australia’s voting age.

The decisions made by our elected officials in Australia has massive impacts on the lives of young people, yet so many young people are unable to have a say on who those elected officials are.

In Australia, the democratic right to vote in federal elections is unfairly only given to those aged over 18. 

At 16, many Australians can work full time, serve in the military, face adult penalties in court, get married and of course, pay tax, but at the same time, can’t vote.

It’s well known that 16 year olds are capable and qualified to make educated decisions on who to vote for, and are also more likely to engage in the process of voting than those over 18. 

In our cooked democracy, we are not far off entering territory in which young voters have never seen a prime minister complete a term.

Currently 600,000 young, educated and qualified voters are excluded from having a say in who their prime minister is or who represents them in parliament.

Extending the legal voting age to 16-year olds would be an instrumental step in assuring that more young people become politically engaged and our democracy becomes more accessible for all Australians.

That’s why we are asking Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to lower the federal voting age to 16.

Can you sign the petition and help us reclaim democracy?