Former Australian PM Substack: Compulsory Voting in the UK?
Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister from 2015-2018, weighs in on the current debate happening in the UK over compulsory voting. Turnbull writes “an Australian solution may help heal Britain’s fractured democracy” on Substack and addresses the concerns surrounding compulsory voting, particularly those made by Daniel Finkelstein, a member of the House of Lords.
Australia has used compulsory voting for 102 years and Turnbull’s direct experience with compulsory voting helps refute many of Finkelstein’s inaccurate claims and objections.
Here is an excerpt from Turnbull’s article on some of the claims made by Finkelstein:
“He complains that the new voters would be “the least well informed, least interested and also least well-established citizens.” among whom he speculates would be included “the young”. To an Australian, this type of objection is quite breathtaking. It is fundamental to our concept of democracy that we should do everything we can to make sure every single citizen casts a vote.”
