Rod Murray, Ocean Shores
It was sad, yet heartening (somehow), to read last week’s article from Adel Pheloung, together with the quotes of her peers.
As a fulltime secondary school teacher and now casual teacher it has not been infrequent, for years, to have discussions with young people and to hear their concerns about the future, and then I finally woke up; they need to be able to vote!
I frequently hear from ‘older’ young people who make comments that, more or less, blame the establishment of baby boomers for the state of the world ‘and nothing will change until they die off,’ etc. It’s a waste of time trying to argue against that, however, it’s obviously not just older Australians who are endlessly distracted, exhausted, or disempowered and opiated by junk media, junk environmental leadership of the major parties, and the corporate interests of endless slippery political promises, or who seem unable to initiate significant change.
The voting age needs come down to 16, and parents and community groups who care, and maybe even the Teachers Federation (but I won’t hold my breath on that) need to start sending the message.
If there is one untapped force for change on this planet, it’s 16-year-old voters who are smart enough to care – and there are millions of them.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
