Attention Gen Z: this upcoming election is ours. We are voting for the future and the future is us. So technically this is our vote. It is for us.
No matter who you vote for, now is your time to do less snapping on your group chat about it and more action. Be apart of the change. I’m proud to be Gen Z because I think we will be strong future leaders who can problem solve and are people who want to make change. But who are we if we can’t live up to this label? Who are we if we just complain about the old men running the country and then when it comes to crunch time, to have your say, we reply with, “oh I’m a bit stressed with my uni work, I don’t know who to vote for so I probably won’t vote.”?
Not voting means you can’t feel anger and empathise for someone like Grace Tame because you are part of the problem, allowing those leaders to be in charge. Not voting means you’re letting your grandparents be treated inhumanly in a nursing home because the government won’t change the horrific policy. When you feel stressed that your future earth is being ruined, know that you had your time to make your change. You had your time to have your say.
It’s similar to the triple j top 100 votes. Don’t say “that song definitely should have been higher,” or complain that the wiggles won, if you didn’t vote.
This means more than just posting that one climate change post on your Instagram story. This is the beginning of a real opportunity for change.
It can be tough figuring out who to vote for. Especially as a young person when the news, and politics aren’t your top priority, and this year is the first-time voting.
Potentially you’re conflicted in liking a particular leader’s personal values but also have a liking to the promises of the other party. For example, Anthony Albanese or Elbow as I like to call him, didn’t have a white picket fence up bringing or a picture perfect personal life. This reflects many Australians, as none of us are perfect, making Elbow relatable. But this isn’t to say, the Liberal party isn’t forecasting some engaging pledges.
There is also the uncertainty of whether a party will follow through with their promises.
This is my first time voting too. So, what I do want to premise is the importance of doing your own research before voting. Understand what each party is promising and figure out, which of those promises, are important to you. Not only for your present but also for your future.
When I was reflecting on who I want to vote for, I thought back on history. I mean literally since I was nine years old the liberal party have been in power and had the opportunity to make changes regarding the climate crisis, aged care issues and domestic violence rates. And what improvements have happened?
It has been so interesting hearing what each party has promised in regard to young adults like Gen Z. Scomo has made a liking to young families, giving a lot of promises to them within the budget. Elbow has made extremely important promises to change aged care policies. But Scomo also wants to inaugurate lessons for young men in school about sexual respect. Which is important for all women but as a Gen Z woman, I appreciate hearing. Elbow also discusses the importance of education and as a student (as a lot of Gen Z are), this is appealing. Especially when research shows, one of the main indications of breaking the poverty cycle is education. According to the Australian by the age of 15, fitting to 2018 statistics, disadvantaged children are on average nearly three years behind their more advantaged peers. This gap can lead to lifelong disparity. This difficulty is effecting 1.2 million children in Australia as this many children are living in poverty and returning to school without the essentials they need to fit in.
Whenever, the election day may be (by the way, it is so Aussie that you can literally put bets on it) I urge you to have your say! The future is ours; we are voting for the future, so this vote is ours. Be a part of the change.
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