Federal Election 2019: Surge in young voters sees all time enrolment high in Australia

Climate change, refugees and equality could become defining policies this coming Federal Election with figures today revealing the electoral roll has had its highest ever uptake in youth voters.

The Electoral Commission revealed it had seen almost 100,000 new voters added to the list this week, pushing the national enrolment to an all-time Australian high of 96.8 per cent.

Of those new additions, nearly 70,000 of them are aged between 18 and 24.

That figure represents 88.8 per cent of all eligible youngsters across the country, and it means a record level of voters in that age bracket are set to take to the polls on May 18.

It usurps the previous high of 88.6 per cent, recorded at the same-sex marriage postal survey in late 2017.

In total, the youth vote will account for 10.3 per cent of all ballots cast next month - enough to see candidates turn their attention to policies deemed important to them.

If a recent study of Curtin University students in this age bracket is anything to go by, it means party policy on renewable energy will rank highly when it comes to casting votes.

According to the Western Independent, a news website run by the university’s journalism program, an informal survey of students ranked climate change as the most important issue facing young people today.

The treatment of refugees and issues of inequality were next on the list.

But according to Murdoch University’s global politics and policy lecturer Ian Cook, politicians are going to have to take a different tack with youngsters if they want their vote.

“Young people see this politics and go, ‘it’s just old men and they don’t care about me and I don’t really care about them’,” Dr Cook told the Western Independent.

“(It) is a real mistake because what these old men are doing has profound effects on young people’s lives.

“Politics at the moment doesn’t speak to young people.”

Speaking about the record uptake in enrolments, Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the numbers represented “the most complete electoral roll in Australian history”.

“A national enrolment rate of 96.8% was for a long time thought to be unattainable,” Mr Rogers said.

“Such a complete roll is a credit to Australian citizens.”