Voting rights must be upheld this referendum
The Human Rights Law Centre have questioned the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) over its decision not to deploy mobile polling booths in hospitals and for insufficient allocation of resources to mobile polling teams on Aboriginal homelands.
During the 2022 federal election, the AEC did not send polling officials to hospitals due to the risk of COVID-19. The AEC has confirmed that this policy remains in place for the referendum.1 The Australian Medical Association has also criticised the continuation of this policy as it could affect the right to vote for both patients and healthcare staff working on referendum day.
Additionally, there have been reports that remote polling teams in the Tanami region of the Northern Territory did not notify residents that polling was open early. Reporting also indicated that the polling booths were not open for long enough for many eligible people to vote and that insufficient numbers of Aboriginal interpreters were provided.2 The AEC should return to these communities, and properly advertise that polling is open, the Human Rights Law Centre said.
The Human Rights Law Centre said the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, it is enshrined in Australian law and guaranteed under international human rights law. Decisions like these, to not resource or facilitate voting by people already facing many barriers, is a matter of great concern and could be incompatible with our obligations under human rights law.
Alice Drury, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre said:
“It is not even referendum day and already we have seen significant barriers stand in the way of people exercising their democratic right to vote. Access to voting for all eligible people, regardless of their location or circumstances, is a fundamental principle that we must uphold.
“We are calling upon the Australian Electoral Commission to take immediate steps to rectify these issues and allocate the necessary resources to ensure that mobile polling booths are made available in hospitals and that mobile polling teams are adequately and properly resourced for deployment to Aboriginal communities on homelands.
“Every eligible person should have the opportunity to have their say in this referendum, regardless of whether they live far from a city, or happen to be in hospital.”
Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Engagement Director, 0419 100 519, michelle.bennett@hrlc.org.au
Media Enquiries
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
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Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Cammeraygal, Darug, Wadawurrung, Turrbal and Jagera people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
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