Should the voting age be raised to 30?

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Time to pour some fuel on the fire then. Big Damo, this one's for you Flame suit on!

While some people go on about Gen Y not being motivated, and I don't mean to blow my own trumpet here, thats not my intention, but it really makes me do this -> when I hear the same condecening statements over and over. Here is some perspective on the matter.

Before my 20th b'day, I'd not only had 4 stable jobs, but I'd also completed 5 tafe certs in various areas relating to IT and Multimedia and Retail, was into my third year of a bachelor of IT with a GPA bordering on honours, and (big thanks to Mr Hardware for the helping hand) I landed my first full-time (now permanent) job. I've owned my lovely AU for nealry one and a half years now, and have just recently purchased a V8.

I was raised by my mother, seeing my father every weekend or so. Neither parent was very wealthy, and in the early days recall eating baked beans on toast many times as we literally couldn't afford anything else. Not all gen Y's are spoilt middle class brats who got whatever they wanted.

All of the above I have worked my backside off for, yet there are so many other people my age who have it even tougher and put their heart and soul into their studies. I have Uni friends who eat noodles for a week just because they can't afford anything else, they've come from the country and are slogging their guts out to get their degree and make their way in the big city.

While I understand how easy it is to lump people into a category and label them "useless", spare a thought for those who actually do have a brain, who are trying to be proactive and make something of themselves.

My goal in life since I was 11 years old has been to help people to the best of my ability, to share the fun times with them, to brighten up their lives, and help them where I can.

If we aren't allowed to vote, and have a voice that many of us so deeply desire, how are those who care meant to feel they have the ability to affect anything that may lead to a positive change? Would this not simply become another liberty that is being taken away from an already disenfranchised generation?