Independent Senator Crystal Drakes is warning Government that amending the Constitution to lower the age for people to be elected to the House of Assembly from 21 to 18 could be exposing them to matters they may not be mature enough to handle.
Speaking on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Drakes told the Senate yesterday that while she was not suggesting an 18-year-old should not be in that Chamber, she has reservations about allowing a teenager to be an elected Member of Parliament.
Impressionable age
She argued that there were things in the political realm for which intellect alone could not prepare a person at such an impressionable age.
Referencing her own experience having come into the Senate at the age of 30, Drakes said: “Falling into the category of being one of the youngest in the Upper Chamber, what was clear to me on that introduction was that it was one thing to talk about something, but once you get into it, you realise that you underestimated the weight of it. (CLM)
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