Teenagers are old enough to pay taxes and face adult criminal charges, so John Tobin explains why they should also have the right to vote.

Last week I was walking through the city of Melbourne near St Patrick’s Cathedral when a large, white, metal scroll-like sculpture caught my eye. I wandered across to read the plaque.

The work was titled Great Petition. It had been commissioned to represent the 30,000-plus signatures presented to Parliament in 1891 in support of women’s right to vote.

It took another 17 years until that right was finally realised in 1908.

On May 3, approximately 18 million Australians – women and men – will go to the polls and exercise their right to vote. It is the touchstone of our democracy. To borrow the words of Abraham Lincoln, it’s the opportunity to ensure government of the people, by the people, for the people.

But it’s not really. Because no one under 18 is entitled to vote.

Funny – because teenagers aren’t too young to pay taxes, they aren’t too young to do adult time for adult crime, and they aren’t too young to pay full-price adult admission fees to the Melbourne Cricket Club members’ reserve.

The litany of arguments to defend the status quo are well known. They were all raised in a parliamentary inquiry several years ago, which rejected an expansion of........

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