Students may soon have the opportunity to engage with election video games designed to teach them about democracy and civic responsibilities. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has announced that it launched a trial of this program in July, with plans to make it available nationwide by 2025, just before the next federal election. The initiative, known as the Democracy for Schools Program, primarily targets schools outside of Canberra and students who are unable to visit the nation’s capital for excursions.
Tom Rogers, the Australian electoral commissioner, described this development as a significant step towards increasing understanding of Australia’s parliamentary workings. Speaking before a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Electoral Reforms, Rogers also mentioned that the AEC expects around 90,000 visitors at Old Parliament House in 2024-25. He further explained that approximately 100,000 students visit Parliament each year through the AEC’s Electoral Education Centre where they participate in various activities and presentations on Australia’s electoral history.
The AEC has recently reached out to schools inviting them to enroll in its voting education program. This program provides free resources and equipment aimed at teaching students about elections and the preferential voting system. Rogers highlighted some of these resources such as ballot boxes, seals for ballot boxes, election posters, and polling official badges. Over the past five years alone, nearly 1,900 kits have been sent to schools enabling classroom elections for over 222,000 students.
On September 9th Labor MP Milton Dick called for increased youth participation in shaping Australia’s democratic future during his speech as speaker of the federal House of Representatives. Historically speaking younger Australians have shown less preference for democracy compared to older generations; however recent data suggests this trend may be changing. Dick referenced an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) survey which found that political parties in Australia had a low trust rating of just 34 percent.
To strengthen democracy among young people and new citizens alike Dick proposed several key measures including establishing a federal “youth parliament” and regional civic showcases which would provide remote and regional students with direct parliamentary experience. Additionally he called for a national communications campaign along with increased resources dedicated towards improving civic engagement.
