The nation's voting age should be lowered to 16 because young Australians do not see their views reflected in Parliament, according to Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

In a speech to the New South Wales Young Labor conference in Sydney on Saturday, Mr Shorten said if people aged 16 and 17 could drive, work, pay taxes, join the military and make their own choices about medical treatment, they should also be allowed to vote.

Federal Labor said research by the Whitlam Institute has shown young people want to be involved in decision making, and opportunities to do so should be offered within political structures.

Mr Shorten said young people deserved the right to shape the laws and policies that shape their lives.

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"There is a democracy deficit between young people who are disengaged in the decisions of the Liberal government, and a sense that nothing can change," Mr Shorten said.

"I believe that it is important we tackle the apathy and cynicism of young people towards politics.

"My message to the Liberal party is let's trust our young people because they're the people who are going to have to deal with the decisions that we're making right now."

But Mr Shorten denied lowering the voting age was merely an attempt to increase his own voting base, bringing in more younger people who typically have left-leaning views.

Earlier this week, he received his worst-ever performance in a Newspoll, with only 17 per cent of respondents believing he would be a better Prime Minister compared to Malcolm Turnbull's 67 per cent.

"Let's look at the real issue here, young people are disengaged for politics," Mr Shorten said.

"We ask a lot of our young people. Why not trust them to have a say?

"I'm fundamentally interested in a boost in the number of people who are enrolled. How they vote is up to them."

Mr Shorten pointed to examples overseas where the voting age has been lowered, including Scotland, Austria and Brazil.

He said in 2012/13, more than 17,000 Australians under 18 paid $41 million in taxes, not to mention the GST.

Mr Shorten cited data from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) showing 400,000 people aged 18 to 24 did not enrol to vote in time for the last federal election.

He argued fines and penalties from the AEC were unlikely to fix that issue, nor would rhetoric from politicians.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann labelled Mr Shorten's proposal as an attempt to grab a headline.

"Instinctively my view is that 18 is the white line in the sand," he said.

"Let's see how the debate unfolds, if indeed there is a debate."