Displacement activity

The AEC’s new rules for enrolment come in today. Amidst all the hand-wringing over the new tougher requirements what has been less mentioned is that around a quarter of 18-25’s are currently not enrolled, suggesting that for a significant section of Australian youth the value of the vote franchise has already been eroded.

The response to this will be a campaign coyly organised by the left-wing of the political class to increase voter participation along the lines of the US ‘Rock the Vote’. Getting the youth to enrol is a more comfortable activity than giving them something to vote for when they do. The willingness of Labor activists to act as the youth wing of the AEC is part of a broader merging of the ALP with government institutions that is likely to especially become a feature at state level.