A LEGISLATIVE Assembly committee has today (February 18) published a report rejecting the Greens Bill to lower the voting age in Canberra to 16.

The Bill, tabled by Greens MLA’s Johnathan Davis and Andrew Braddock, would see teenagers able to vote in the next ACT government elections, however would not apply to federal elections.

Following an inquiry into the Bill, members of the Assembly’s Justice and Safety Committee raised major concerns about imposing criminal offences and penalties on 16 and 17 year-olds for non-compliance, a problem that, according to the report, had “no clear solution.”

The committee also said that exempting young people from penalties, or waiving penalties for non-enrolment or non-voting, has the potential to create perceptions of inconsistency and inequality, which may undermine respect for the enrolment process.

Mr Braddock, a co-sponsor of the Bill and one of the committee members presented a dissenting report.

“I’m disappointed that, given the level of evidence in support of the Bill, particularly from a coalition of over 30 academic experts from universities and the youth sector, the committee has still chosen to not support the Bill,” said Mr Braddock.

“This is not the end of the Bill. The committee process has provided good feedback from the community that will allow us to improve the Bill and bring it back to the Assembly for consideration.”

An online survey conducted during the inquiry found a majority of respondents said yes to lowering the voting age.

Of the 438 responses received, 58 per cent agreed to lowering the voting age, while 40 per cent disagreed and two per cent said they were unsure.

The report however, said the committee was “cautious on drawing conclusions from the results” as participants were not randomly selected and were likely to be drawn to the survey if they had a strong view on the topic.

The report instead recommended the ACT government explore “alternative ways to further engage young people in the democratic process.”