Unless there's a political shift, Gen Y won't come to the party

Generation Y just won't play ball in Australian politics. We're not joining major parties, and we're not voting for them either. The interest in political issues is there, but the traditional party structures are foreign to us.

Young people's reluctance to even dip a toe in the water of the party political system must be annoying to the party animals concerned about renewal. They should be concerned, too. Both Liberal and Labor party membership numbers are in decline, and the average age of ALP members is 50. No firm figure is available from the Liberal Party, but an educated guess would be that its membership is older still.

So why won't we join? It's complex, but here are a few thoughts.

First, for many of my fellow Gen Yers, joining a party says to the world that you subscribe to a set of political philosophies in a cookie-cutter way. Yet we are a generation that is used to expressing our individuality and exercising choice. If something doesn't fit us, we are willing to walk away without a second thought.

Second, many of us reckon we wouldn't have the time or don't know how to get started.

Third, respect for politicians as professionals is, well, lacking. This is certainly not Generation Y-specific, but cynicism seems to have been snowballing through the generations, to the point where Generation Y sees the griminess of Australian politics as fact, reinforced by media focus on the worst of our pollies' behaviour. As a fellow Gen-Y traveller said to me, ''Everyone there [in political parties] is a wanker … plus everyone will hate you, and you won't get anything done that you want to.''

Alternatives to the mainstream parties are also abundant. There are the obvious groups like GetUp! and the Youth Climate Coalition, which are very sophisticated at attracting members in schools and unis and who understand the online sphere. They also focus on single-issue campaigns, which tend to be more popular because then we don't have to squeeze ourselves into that political cookie cutter.

For these non-party political groups, membership is easy, just a click away. Political parties are improving on this front, but joining up online is still difficult and over-complicated. At the moment if you try to join NSW Labor, the page comes up with an error message and simply says ''We're Sorry''. Symbolic perhaps.

Members of Gen Y, maybe more than previous generations, like to feel empowered. These alternate political groups have an ingenious ability to make young people feel like we're part of something larger and that our contribution is important. Whereas in political parties, the power for younger members is close to zero, and there are old networks that are not for the likes of you and that operate through different mediums to what you're used to. Things are organised through phone calls and meetings, not Facebook or email. Even if you're willing to work your way up that greasy pole to elected office, your power is tempered by the party itself.

There are, of course, still young idealistic people who do join the parties. I asked a couple of them why. Liberal member Paul Boulus, 21, and Alex Cubis, 24, a member of the ALP, both said they saw that society needed change, and they believed that in our democratic system the major parties were the best vehicles to bring that about.