Labour MP Charles Chauvel - who apparently was young once - has come out in support of lowering the voting age, or at least of seriously considering it. Rather than the pedophobic attitudes displayed by Winston Peters, he
prefer[s] to take an optimistic view, that by educating and enfranchising people at an earlier age, we may well be able to reverse the alarming trend of decreasing young voter turnout and encourage those affected by political decisions to have a voice in making them.
And if you have even a trace of democratic sensibilities, that is something you should want to encourage.
Hopefully Chauvel will manage to persuade his caucus colleagues. But he'll need to persuade a lot more than that if the bill is to have any hope of becoming law.
