Bill Shorten says the move could re-engage young people with politics and if they are young enough to join the military or drive, they should be able to vote

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Labor is promising to lower the voting age for federal elections to 16 or 17, arguing someone old enough to join the military or drive a car is old enough to vote.

Bill Shorten will announce the new policy on Saturday, saying it could also re-engage young people with politics.

Parliamentary secretary to the leader of the opposition Sam Dastyari will consult with community leaders and young people and recommend whether the voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16 or to 17.

The policy comes as Labor struggles for attention against new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has taken the coalition to a clear lead in the polls and is preferred as prime minister by 63% of Australians compared with Shorten’s 17%.

The opposition leader is also trying to focus attention on climate policy – where Turnbull is constrained by the conservative climate sceptics in his party.

Shorten leaves on Sunday to visit Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati with shadow foreign minister Tanya Plibersek and shadow immigration minister Richard Marles. The trip will be focused on the countries’ concerns about the impact of climate change.

In a speech to NSW Young Labor on Saturday, Shorten will point out that 400,000 Australians turned 18 between 2010 and 2013 and did not enrol to vote.

“Too many of your peers are falling through the cracks in our democracy. More fines and penalties from the Australian Electoral Commission won’t fix this ... I know we live in times when it is easy to be disengaged, it’s easy to be cynical. This is why I want Australia to think about lowering the voting age, to give more young Australians a say,” he will say.

Shorten says that if Australia trusts 16 and 17 year olds to pay tax and work, join the military, drive and fly a plane then the parliament should trust them to have a say in democratic elections. And he says 17 is now the average voting age in established democracies.

Younger voters also often favour Labor and the Greens than the Coalition parties.