Young Australians voting in tomorrow’s election are ill-equipped to decide on key issues having turned away from traditional media and may not appreciate the importance of their vote, according to a leading political scientist.
Tomorrow approximately 1,774,457 young adults aged 18 and 24 will head to the polls to decide the future of Australia.
Aaron Martin, a political scientist at the University of Melbourne, found young Australians engaged with platforms like TikTok and Facebook are not being educated the same way in-depth reporting from traditional media sources such as the ABC and The Age are.
“[The] majority of people are probably spending less time reading political news in-depth and more time online being informed through platforms like Facebook and TikTok, we could say are just not, generally speaking, substantive forms of political commentary.
“Outlets like The Age or the ABC, who would actually do in-depth reporting and have people devoted to that, I think are struggling to attract younger people who are using platforms like TikTok and Facebook.”
The balancing of interests are quite complex trade-offs and to kind of simplify them down to a few seconds that will capture someone’s attention on Facebook, I think is really degrading political discussion.
Similarly a 2024 report conducted by Griffith University – focused on the Australian Labor Party’s usage of TikTok during the 2022 federal election – found politicians had adapted to be more relatable to younger generations.
However, the Griffith study also found 86 per cent of the Labor Party’s TikTok content during the 2022 election was designed to attack opponents, rather than explain policy.
As Martin affirmed, the rise of “relatable” political content had not guaranteed an informed electorate.
“The consequence of that [less substantive forms of political commentary] is a real dumbing down of political discussion, because if leaders have to present something on TikTok in, you know, 30 seconds or whatever the case may be, that’s counter to the sort of nature of politics.”
Important to this topic is the caricatures created and internet pop-culture symbols used to catch-grab younger audiences on social media. In the 2025 election campaign the Liberal’s have introduced their ‘Tim Cheese’ rat character, while both parties have used diss tracks and memes to make entertaining headlines for young Australians.
Screenshots of the Australian Labor Party’s TikTok account.
Martin said: “[The nature of politics] which is the balancing of interests are quite complex trade-offs and complex issues and to kind of simplify them down to a few seconds or to a headline that will capture someone’s attention on Facebook, I think is really, degrading political discussion.”
Martin was also a part of initiatives like Vote Compass, an election tool which helped 1.3 million Australians compare party policies easily, and said when political information is accessible and relevant, young voters are willing to engage.
He added making politics clearer and closer on the issues young people care about was key to building a stronger, more informed electorate.
“What would improve it is, to improve civics education in high schools,” he said. “I think that would improve things substantially because then you could actually have people think through what would a society without politics look like?”
There are many variants across the youth demographic, however, certain things can be more clearly gauged from Martin’s study.
He found young Australians are far more likely than older generations to sign petitions, attend protests or take part in online campaigns.
“There is some data showing that young people are less likely to vote, more likely to vote informally,” he said.
His research also suggested young people aren’t completely turning away from politics but instead are engaging differently.
The same study conducted by Griffith University in 2014 found nearly half of the voters in their survey only voted to avoid a fine.
Only 3.5 per cent of the participants voted from pure political interest and of the non-voters, 18.8 per cent didn’t vote due to a lack of interest in politics. An extra 22.4 per cent of unenrolled young Australians chose not to enrol for the same reason.
UTS law student Kaitlyn Lee, 20, said young people like herself were largely uninterested in politics.
“When I go into the ballot box… I don’t know how to fill it out, so then I think I just put a number in one of them and then give it to them,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that could be wrong and it’s … put off as a donkey vote.
“When I enter the place that you vote, I always look at the booklets and then I kinda randomly choose a party that seems similar to what my parents choose.”
In contrast Jacqueline Parker, 20, a student at the Australian National University in Canberra, said she voted because she regarded it as her civic duty, but added she was from a household that engaged in political discussion.
“Yes, I am confident in the decision I’m gonna make in this election as my parents are very involved in the independent party for our electoral area, and so I’m not too influenced by anything on social media,” she added.
However, Martin said he felt many younger Australians had yet to grasp the importance of casting their vote.
“There’s this idea that we don’t need politics and change can be achieved through other means, and that’s certainly true in some instances,” he said.
“But I think when we think about the big changes that affect ordinary people’s lives, I think that occurs through politics. So therefore I’d say that the voting is actually really important.”
Main image created with ChatGPT/Canva.
