In the midst of COVID and not long before the 2022 election, I tuned in half-heartedly to yet another Zoom seminar – something about sustainability in the global tech sector. It turned out to be riveting, but the thing I remember most was a throwaway line right at the end by a young speaker from western Sydney called Natasha Abhayawickrama.

She was one of the brains behind the nationwide School Strike 4 Climate movement. Answering questions with great maturity from her family kitchen about her passion for climate action, she ended with a quiet aside: “But of course I can’t vote on any of this.”

Lowering the vote to 16 would force politicians to genuinely consider the needs of this ignored generation.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

What? Here was a thoughtful, rational, educated leader, completely across the biggest challenge of our age, yet she could not participate in our election because she would have been only 17 on election day.

Let’s check what Natasha could have done at 17. She could enlist in the army. She could get a job and pay taxes. She could drive a car. She could independently manage her MyHealth records. She could be charged as an adult with a criminal offence. And, like the then 16-year-old Melbourne climate change activist, Anjali Sharma, she could launch a class action against the federal........

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