Teens aren't developed enough. They don't have enough knowledge about politics. They're too easily influenced by "minority groups". These are some of the reasons given by groups opposed to allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote.
Australia has compulsory voting for every citizen aged 18 years and older, but Australia's youngest senator, Jordon Steele-John, has proposed legislation that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote if they wanted to.
The Greens legislation has been referred to a parliamentary committee, and while most who made submissions to the inquiry endorsed the proposed change, a couple of groups weren't happy about it.
Well, just the Liberals, and the Australian Christian Lobby.
The youth branch of the Liberal party (i.e. the party in government right now) argued that Steele-John's legislation was an "ill-designed and poorly-masked attempt" by the Greens to boost the party's share of the vote in Australia.
The Young Liberal's president, and staffer for senator Eric Abetz, Josh Manuatu, told the committee that young people weren't all that interested in politics.
"It is noted that while our membership stretches from the age of 16 through to the age of 30, less than 10% of our membership are under the age of 18," he said.
"This level of civic participation accords with anecdotal accounts of teenage participation in programs like youth parliament, where the overall number of applicants and participants constitute a very small proportion of the teenage population."
The Australian Christian Lobby, the organisation that was deeply involved in attempting to stop same-sex marriage becoming the law of the land last year, argued that voluntary voting for people aged 16 and 17 would "not be a healthy development".
"Lowering the voting age to 16 years without making voting compulsory for those under 18 will skew the current system of compulsory voting," the organisation's managing director Martyn Iles said.
Iles said it would lead to highly-informed young people voting.
"The result will likely be that those who choose to vote will be a minority of highly informed young people and those who have been politicised through minority organisations."
At the same time, the organisation claimed teens weren't mature enough to be voting.
"If we take the responsibility of participating in the democratic process seriously, we must also accept that a voter must be capable of mature judgement. Lowering the voting age to 16 would not safeguard the integrity of the democratic process."
Many more were in favour of the change.
The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth argued that Australians have low overall political knowledge, and many have similar levels of education as many 16- and 17-year-olds, so knowledge and education could not be seen as limiting factors for young people voting.
The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition said 16- and 17-year-olds have been allowed to vote in various elections and referendums in places such as Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Scotland, the Philippines and Ecuador.
National children's commissioner Megan Mitchell said in her submission that in her time in that role young Australians had consistently told her they would like to see the voting age lowered.
"Young Australians have also frequently expressed a desire to learn more about civic processes, which they feel receive minimal attention with the current school system," she said.
University of New South Wales constitutional law expert professor George Williams said that allowing 16-year-olds to register to vote could be done alongside a civics education, meaning that teens would learn about democracy and be able to participate in it.
"It is a better age for gaining the knowledge and forming the habits needed to be an engaged Australian citizen," he said in his submission. "Voting at 16 would be consistent with other changes and opportunities at this age.
"People under 18 can leave school, get a job, drive a car and pay taxes. They can also enlist in the Australian defence forces, become a parent and, in exceptional circumstances, get permission to marry. If the law permits them to undertake these activities, it is hard to see why they cannot also vote."
He argued that arguments about 16-year-olds not being knowledgable enough about politics or mature enough could be said about any age group.
"Indeed, in my experience 16- and 17-year-olds tend to be more passionate about the future of our nation and their democratic rights than other sections of the community."
"Australians of all ages typically have low levels of knowledge about government and can express disinterest about politics," he said. "Indeed, in my experience 16- and 17-year-olds tend to be more passionate about the future of our nation and their democratic rights than other sections of the community."
The committee is due to report back to the parliament in December.