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Max Halupka with museum director Daryl Karp at the Power of 1 exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Photo: Rohan Thomson

The perception of young Australians as apathetic, lazy, and unlikely to engage in political discourse is inaccurate, mad and dangerous according to the authors of a new study on Australian democracy.

The study, undertaken by the University of Canberra's Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis in conjunction with the Museum of Australian Democracy, compared how different generations perceived our political system and what they would change about it.

Max Halupka, a research fellow at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, said the survey indicated a "changing of the guard" with young people feeling disenfranchised with politicians but still supporting democratic values.

"A lot of people see political party membership and engagement as the hallmarks of democracy but what our study did was ask a broader repertoire of questions to see what other ways people engage in politics," he said.

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"We found that Gen Y [born between 1980 and 1995] comes out really strongly in other forms of political engagement as they have moved away from tradition party politics."

Mr Halupka said Australian youth were more likely to engage in politics via social media and online petitions and these trends should not be seen as temporary fads but fundamental changes.

"These mechanisms are a by-product of the internet and an aspect of the everyday so the political system has to adapt to them otherwise we may see an even greater disconnect among younger demographics," he said.

Lead author Professor Mark Evans said negative stereotypes of younger generations were "mad and dangerous for the health of Australian democracy".

Link:
Gen Y bashing 'mad and dangerous' to Australian democracy