By Mikayla van Loon
The time has come when young voters will outnumber baby boomers in a federal election but with many said to be disengaged from the political system, there’s a local attempt to change that.
Build A Ballot, a platform designed to help choose a candidate best aligned with someone’s views and values, will host a Casey candidates Q & A session and trivia event in Lilydale on Saturday 26 April.
It’s a chance for mostly young people to engage and learn about who may represent them in Australia’s parliament, while also testing their knowledge in some political trivia.
Volunteer and organiser Jol Scobie said while young people are the target demographic of the event, there’s lots of people who are still undecided on how to vote.
“Our goal is to make sure everyone across the electorate and the country is informed and confident in their vote,” Jol said.
From experience, Jol said in general young people feel withdrawn and disconnected from the political discourse, whether that’s because they feel underrepresented or unsure about policy.
“Young people are struggling against immediate issues like cost of living or housing, as well as the stress of study or work. Many have looked at a complex political climate and chosen to check out,” Jol said.
“In conversations with friends or peers, many young people express frustration at politics in general, and decide to not vote or to vote the same way as their parents.
“However, every vote counts the same. Making sure that young people know how to vote, and who will best represent their needs, is crucial to making sure our democracy functions as it should.”
The combined weight of Millennials and Gen Z may shape the outcome of the 3 May election, both in Casey and across the country.
In Casey, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census, there were an approximate 68,229 people who were born in the years between 1981 and 2012. This figure may have changed in the four years since, however.
Expecting cost of living, housing and climate change to be front of mind for attendees, Jol said while policies have been announced for the first two points, climate change has had little to no mention, despite being an issue closely aligned with younger voters.
“Climate change has been a topic that this election campaign has pushed to the side – but young people still see it as a key issue, with its impact set to affect younger generations disproportionately.”
The fairly intimate host setting of The CriBB Cafe in Lilydale will mean attendees get the best chance of meeting, questioning and chatting with potential representatives from across the political spectrum.
Split into three sessions, bookended by audience questions, with politics themed trivia in the middle, will allow “each candidate to explain their position and policy on the issues that people really care about”, as well as see how well candidates perform in the trivia.
There’ll be time to explore and use the Build A Ballot tool as well for attendees to better understand which party or representative may suit their own interests.
“Our online tool asks people to imagine they are the Prime Minister, and select which policy they support. Then, they are given a ‘match score’ with each party in their area based on how each candidate has responded to the same set of questions,” Jol said.
The primary goal of Build A Ballot is to encourage people to vote with intention, without pushing any political agenda, for the betterment of democracy.
“If young people don’t engage in the system, aren’t informed or don’t care about voting, we can leave an entire cohort of people unrepresented in our parliament,” Jol said.
“With Millennials and Gen Z now outnumbering the Baby Boomers, this demographic of unrepresented people is growing, and their voices aren’t being heard.
“Getting young people engaged and informed is crucial to maintaining our democratic integrity.”
Build A Ballot’s free Q & A and trivia event will be held from 3pm to 5.30pm on Saturday 26 April at The CriBB Cafe, located at 222 Main Street Lilydale.
To book a spot, go to events.humanitix.com/build-a-ballot-casey-trivia-qna
