More than 3600 HSC students graduating from Sydney's Catholic schools recently will cast a ballot in this year's State and Federal elections.

Sydney's Catholic schools will write to more than 3600 former students this month to encourage them to take part in the State Election on 24 March and in the Federal Election later in the year after discovering that many students were not registered to vote.

Having Year 12 students enrol to vote was the brainchild of Br Kelvin Canavan, Executive Director of Sydney Catholic schools, who became aware that virtually none of his final year students - mostly aged between 17 and 18 years - had registered to vote.

Br Kelvin Canavan says he wrote to these students before they sat their HSC last year urging them to vote and seize their first opportunity in the democratic election process.

"I thought if they missed out now, they would have blown their right and privilege to influence government policies at state and national levels for another three or four years," he said.

Catholic schools ran a week-long venture with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) in September last year to encourage year 12 students to join the electoral roll. This first-ever initiative follows more teaching about citizenship and Australian values in recent years.

"We now need to turn this teaching into practice by having recent school leavers vote in the 2007 elections and make major decisions in health; education; the environment; and in public policy areas; and young adults need to be heard in these debates," Br Kelvin Canavan said.

"We have an aging population; hence, it is important that the younger generation become involved at local, state and federal levels and accept more responsibility for future directions.

"My hope is that graduates from Catholic schools would have some concern for the common good, concern for their community and neighbourhood.  We need to encourage the young to help build a better world."

Br Kelvin says Commonwealth research in 2002 found that Australian students had negative attitudes towards political parties and political processes.  

"In a survey, only 47% replied that they were certain to vote in a national election," he said.

"As a nation, we need to do more to ensure young Australian adults vote in Commonwealth and State elections."

The Australian Electoral Commission's Acting State Manager for NSW, Marie Nelson says she is delighted with the highly successful pilot program which resulted in nearly all eligible Catholic school students being enrolled.

"Historically, Year 12 students have been slow to register with the AEC because the end of schooling is a busy time for young people with so many rites of passage demanding their attention including graduation, leaving home, travelling, and obtaining work, tertiary education, a driver's licence and tax file number," she said.

Brandy Tsang, who completed the HSC at Bethlehem College in Ashfield last year, was among the students who enrolled to vote through the program.
Ms Tsang has been involved in public speaking for five years and decided at the age of 15 that she would love to become Australia's first Asian prime minister.
"I knew after passing first round in a public speaking competition that I could utilise my strong vocal skills and stand up for people.

"I'm a very strong Catholic and believe in a fair go for everyone," she said.

"The first thing I would do as prime minister is re-evaluate our approach to asylum seekers."

Sydney's Catholic schools electoral enrolment program will continue throughout 2007.

Related article from the Sydney Morning Herald
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Former Pupils urged to vote by Anna Patty, Education Editor
January 22, 2007