Millennial Myth Busting

It’s an oft-repeated truism that in order to win government, the Liberal Party needs to win the votes of millennials. Unfortunately, what is also oft-repeated (especially amongst party members and conservative commentators) is a litany of unhelpful myths and specious explanations for why this voting block have abandoned the Liberal Party in the first place.

As a millennial myself, who mixes mostly with other millennials, I see how common misconceptions about my generation lead directly to poor policy, ineffective messaging and ultimately electoral failure.

Although this blog is intended primarily as a platform for policy ideas, good policy can only proceed from a clear understanding of the people and their concerns, and so I think it is appropriate to tackle some of these myths here.

Myth: Millennials are left-for-life

Conventional wisdom holds that most people become more conservative as they grow older, and in turn their political allegiance shifts to the right. It remains a mystery then to many of us why millennials seem to be bucking this trend. There are all sorts of explanations put forward, most involve conspiracy theories about left wing infiltration and indoctrination (myths that I will debunk shortly). They imply that millennials are all gullible, uniformed and lacking in common sense.

The truth is that millennials are not bucking any trend at all. Millennials, like every generation before, start out naïve, idealistic and with great concern for people they don’t know, and with experience and responsibility become pragmatic, sensible and their concern shifts towards people they do know, especially their children and community. In short, they become conservative in temperament.

It is not for lack of this transition that millennials have rejected us, but rather because of it. Millennials have become sensible, pragmatic, and concerned about their communities. Being sensible, they understand the need for sensible (rather than reckless) action on climate change, but what they get from us is coal waved around in parliament house. Being pragmatic, they care about financial security, but what they get from us is hysterical opposition to any measure that would rebalance the tax system in favour of young families. Being concerned about their increasingly diverse communities of family and friends, they want to stand up for people who are discriminated against, but what they get from us is inflammatory rhetoric about African gangs and transexuals, and a disturbingly misogynistic culture in parliament itself.

There is hope. There is a natural pull towards the values we stand for and sensible government we advocate. If we can only address the issues mentioned above, we can win these voters back. Let me be clear: this does not mean shifting to the left on these issues, or becoming Labor-lite. There is nothing conservative about climate denial, there is nothing conservative about favouring retirees over young families and there is nothing conservative about vilifying minorities. What we need is respectable, sensible, conservative positions on each of these issues.

Myth: Millennials have been indoctrinated by an education system full of left-wing ideology

I went to an Anglican grammar school in Warragul, and it would hardly be a stretch to suggest that most of the teachers and parents at the school were politically conservative. The only things we were taught that might now be called woke, were factual accounts of Australian history (massacres and all) and scientific information about climate change. Along with this, we also learned critical thinking, how to debate contentious issues and a healthy scepticism about what we hear in the media.

If there was indoctrination going on, it was indoctrination with the Christian values the school espoused, especially community service, respect, striving for excellence and working to make a positive difference in the world. Despite this notable lack of woke influence (even more true of millennials born in the 80s), my former classmates, like all millennials, mostly hate the Liberal Party.

To suggest that our generation are woke because of a conspiracy of neo-Marxists to insert their ideology into the school curriculum is an insult both to the intelligence of students and the integrity and professionalism of teachers. While there is genuine cause for concern, with some teachers clearly going too far, such incidents are not nearly prevalent enough to be a plausible explanation for widespread millennial wokeness.

The indoctrination argument becomes pure farce when applied to universities. While it is true that persecution of conservative voices on campus is a major issue, especially in America, the idea that any more than a handful of university students are so strongly influenced by the political views of their lecturers as to render them left-wing-for-life is laughable. For starters, most students would have no idea about their lecturers’ political views because they study non-political subjects.  Those that do study political subjects most likely chose those subjects because they already have strong political inclinations, and even the impressionable few remaining are hardly likely to be swayed by Marxist arts lecturers who, at least at my university, were mostly considered a laughing stock.

Myth: Millennials will become conservative when they own a home

There’s a trite adage doing the rounds currently that you can’t be conservative when you have nothing to conserve. There’s a kernel of truth in this, insofar as people who despise their culture and heritage will never be conservative, but that’s not how the phrase is usually applied. Instead, it’s used to suggest that there’s some sort of magical link between owning a home and voting for a conservative party, and boosting home ownership is therefore a miracle cure for our young people problem.

The adage implies that mortgage holders have more to lose from an economic downturn and are therefore more likely to vote for better economic managers to ‘conserve’ their house. This argument doesn’t bear any scrutiny whatsoever. The idea that mortgagees have more to lose is nonsense; most have equity and refinancing as a safety net. It’s the renters who face the far greater risk of ending up homeless during an economic downturn, and rely more on government economic management for their financial security.

The reason renters don’t vote Liberal is not because they don’t care about economic management, or that somehow the act of paying rent makes one vulnerable to left wing ideology. It’s much simpler: they don’t vote Liberal because Liberals are the party that stands for home owners and landlords, not renters. You'd struggle to name a single major policy to help renters in our party’s history. Labor are no better, so it’s no surprise the Greens have pounced on the issue with their usual flare for making economically disastrous solutions appear alluring.

Like it or not, home ownership is down, and it’s not coming back up any time soon. We should try to address this, but we also need to accept reality and start developing policies targeted at renters. I’m not talking about clever ways to help young people get into enormous debt either, we’ve tried that and were soundly rejected, rather we need meaningful policies that help them live better lives as renters.

Myth: Millennials are lazy and indulgent

I don’t think there is a single more ridiculous, condescending and plainly false claim made against Millennials than this: if only we gave up our penchant for smashed avo, we would all be happy homeowners by now. Of course, taken literally, this argument is nonsense because it would take 9,000 smashed avo breakfasts to save a deposit for a median priced house. More concerning is what is implied: that millennials are somehow less disciplined, less willing to work hard and less willing sacrifice luxuries like brunch in order to buy a house than older generations.

Here is a more accurate picture: millennials are being made to pay double for a house relative to their income, compared with 30 years ago. Where the median house back then would have been a family home on a quarter acre block 30 minutes from the city, the median house now is a shoebox in the outer suburbs with no public transport and congested roads. Many millennials, myself included, have concluded that this is actually not good value for money. Rather than a buy a house in Cranbourne West, we are content to rent in inner city suburbs and invest our money elsewhere.

One could point to the fact that I work a four-day week as evidence of a deficient work ethic, but it actually reflects a trend among my generation towards placing more value on life outside work, especially family, over work and material possessions.

This is not a lazy or indulgent attitude, it is a perfectly sensible one, informed by the experience of our own parents and grandparents, many of whom have come to regret spending too much time at work, and not enough with their children.

Rather than demonising and condescending millennials for what are perfectly sensible life choices, we need to develop policies that align with changing attitudes towards work and home ownership. We have an opportunity to clearly differentiate ourselves from Labor in this area. Labor’s answer is to pay for childcare so parents can get back to work. Liberal solutions should be ones that foster flexibility and choice, and our party should recognise and affirm those that put their families and communities first in life.

For some suggestions on what policies we could adopt to appeal to millennials, refer to my posts: Tax Reforms for Millennials and Housing Policy.