Our silent majority
Mayoral debate fails to attract young residents
IN a crowd of almost 300 at the Geelong mayoral forum, only a few people were between 18 and 25 years of age.
A CONTINGENT of Geelong residents were noticeably underrepresented at the Geelong mayoral forum.
In a crowd of almost 300, only a few were between 18 and 25 years of age.
Twenty- five to 29- year- olds weren’t much better represented. Where were the youth of Geelong, the people who make up about 20 per cent of the city’s population?
There could be any number of reasons for their absence. Weren’t they interested?
As I overheard one person say in conversation on this very topic just before official proceedings began, when it comes to politics, young people are ‘‘apathetic ... or ambivalent’’.
Apathy is an old chestnut of an explanation, warmed up whenever a group seems disengaged from the political process in a democratic society.
While the number of young people who have failed to enrol to vote even though they are eligible is higher than the national average (78 per cent youth enrolment versus 91 per cent national average, according to the 2010- 11 Australian Electoral Commission Annual Report), are they really apathetic.
Could it not be that generation Y prefer online engagement? Facebook ‘likes’ and online polls are the form of democratic participation that suits a demographic that has embraced the digital world.
They now have the means to express their political will online. Younger people are likely to be over-represented among participants in an online Geelong Advertiser mayoral election poll — a poll, by the way, that has Keith Fagg winning on the primary vote.
Last week’s Geelong Advertiser debate was also streamed live online. The younger audience may well have been over-represented among online viewers.
A preference for the digital might, therefore, be one reason why young people were under-represented at the analogue forum.
Conjecture aside, when it comes to participation in other forms of
I overheard one person say just before official proceedings began, when it comes to politics, young people are ‘apathetic . . . or ambivalent’.
voluntary social activity outside of the home — such as playing team sport, eating out and going to the movies with friends — 18 to 24- year- old Australians have higher levels of participation than their more senior fellow citizens.
Many sociologists use such activity as an indicator of civic engagement. The willingness of young people to engage in these activities doesn’t support the idea that they ‘‘just don’t care’’ to participate in the public sphere.
It’s no proof that they care about local politics. It just shows that they do care about analogue social interaction.
So why isn’t an interest in online participation and other forms of offline social interaction carrying over into analogue politics?
Why didn’t the debate draw a younger crowd? It’s a fair question, but it may be the wrong question.
What was obvious was the overrepresentation of special-interest groups and audience members who were there in support of one candidate or another.
Of the 13 impromptu audience questions, I believe six were obviously asked by advocates or people who were there to direct ‘Dorothy Dixer’ questions at a particular candidate.
If the impromptu questions were anything to go by, the audience did not represent a cross-section of Geelong residents and ratepayers. The event was sold out, many of the tickets it now seems were snapped up by people with an agenda to push.
While many of these people represented good causes, their presence made it difficult to draw any conclusions about the political engagement of Geelong’s youth.
If anything, the lack of young people at the debate reflected the lack of youth participation in special-interest groups.
That’s not to say that if the barrow pushers hadn’t come to the debate more young people would have attended. The advocates’ seats may have sat empty.
That’s why next Wednesday’s Our Say mayoral debate at Deakin University will be a good indication of youth engagement.
Hosted at the Waterfront campus, Geelong students should have a homeground advantage at that forum.
They may leap at the opportunity to quiz the candidates on Deakin turf, and to have their say.