The Australia Institute’s Matt Grudnoff: ”In Australia, the previous three generations — the silent generation, the baby boomers and generation X – all voted left when they were young, on average. Now the silent generation and the boomers, on average, vote right and gen X voting habits don’t appear to have changed much over their lifetime. As they age, however, millennials appear to be going in entirely the opposite direction. Moving more to the left. … This is a big problem for the parties of the right as millennials make up an increasingly larger proportion of voters and it had an impact on the last federal election. According to data from the Australian Electoral Commission there are now four electorates where those under 40 make up more than 45% of the voters in the seat… As older generations die out, millennials will increasingly come to dominate a larger number of electorates. If they continue to vote left, this will be catastrophic for the Coalition. But why are millennials continuing to vote left as they age? There are probably three main reasons, and they are all linked to their economic wellbeing. … These three issues — insecure work, housing affordability and climate change — mean that millennials are sharing in less of the benefits of the economy and are less secure than previous generations. … The rising importance of millennials as a voting bloc is bringing a seismic shift in Australian politics. Political parties will need to stop just promising better jobs, more affordable housing and action on climate change, and instead actually deliver. Those parties that fail to do so face becoming irrelevant.”
5 January 2023