Young Australians are tuning out of politics – but they are not alone. More voters are becoming disengaged, disillusioned by unfulfilling promises and the sense their voices are not being heard. With the federal election under a week away, is it too late to reignite voters’ interests?
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00For some Australians, the upcoming federal election is barely on their radar.
00:07I'm not even enrolled to vote. Yeah, what age do you have to be?
00:12Researchers say the group most disengaged with politics is people in their 30s and early 40s.
00:17They don't have job security, they're working contract to contract, they're renting or they're steeped in mortgage payments.
00:24People for whom the system really doesn't seem to be working that well. People who look at their parents at the same age and think they had it better.
00:32It's a growing trend with more voters tuning out.
00:36People are just less excited about voting, they're less excited about the political parties, they're less excited about how Australian democracy is working.
00:44She says minor parties and independents are seizing on the overall lack of interest.
00:49The problem with that system though, this two-party system, is that there are plenty of voters, particularly aged 40 and under, who don't feel like they're getting ahead.
00:57And there's no real electoral incentive for parties to talk to those voters because they can build enough of an electorate, enough of a voter block, without having to talk to them.
01:08The number of Gen Z and millennial voters have overtaken boomers for the first time this election.
01:13But despite the political power they hold, they're becoming more disconnected with the process.
01:18So what would it take to re-engage them?
01:20Just come talk to us, ask us questions, ask us what we want, really.
01:25Because I see so many politicians out there that just assume what we want and then just do whatever and then we just hate them for it.
01:31Having the voice of people that you look up to, like influencers for example, would be an amazing idea.
01:38They should get more and more young people involved into it because we don't want to be known as a country who is just digging up the dirt and making a living.
01:48We want to be much more than that.
01:50They just don't see themselves represented in the political conversation and they don't see that conversation talking about the issues that actually matter to them.
01:57A new web-based tool is hoping to change that by helping voters cut through the political noise.
02:02You can select as many of these policy options as you agree with.
02:06Created by climate-focused group Project Planet, the Build-A-Ballot tool walks users through a series of questions to create a personalised voting plan.
02:14People are starting to think, oh, maybe I shouldn't just vote how my parents have always voted.
02:18Maybe I should actually understand a little bit more about what I'm doing.
02:22And we've tried to design the tool in a way that really invites people into that process.
02:26But Dr Shepard believes if voters are apathetic now, it's already too late to change their minds.
02:31Disengaged voters aren't silly. They're often very smart and they're disengaged for very good reason.
02:38I think if you're disengaged at this point, you're going to stay disengaged until the 3rd of May.
02:43With less than a week to go before polling day, politicians won't have to wait too long to find out.
02:48to go.
02:51Okay.
02:52La première part of our party's discussion is weak.
02:54Let's see if you have a slide that comes up.
02:57So let's start thinking.
02:58What do you think of the time we're going to do now?
03:00Go ahead.
03:01Go ahead.
03:02Go ahead.
03:03Go ahead.
03:05Go ahead.
03:06Go ahead.
03:07Go ahead.
03:08Go ahead.
03:09Go ahead.
03:10Go ahead.