When was the AEC first established

• Home
• > Overview of the AEC
• > Publications
• > Fact Sheets

Updated: 27 March 2012

The AEC is marking 2012 as the Year of Enrolment to commemorate the centenary of compulsory enrolment.

In this anniversary year, the AEC will encourage Australians to enrol, or to check they are properly enrolled and ready to vote at an election or referendum.

One hundred years ago, legislation came into effect to make enrolment mandatory, so every Australian would have a say.

Today, despite a century of compulsory enrolment, there are 1.5 million eligible Australians missing from the electoral roll, with young people and Indigenous Australians particularly under-represented.

Eligible Australian citizens, 18 years or over, can enrol to vote, change their address or check their enrolment details through this website.

Why is compulsory enrolment important?

Compulsory enrolment allows Australia to maintain an accurate and fraud-proof electoral roll. This is essential for the conduct of free and fair elections.

In the past, fines were imposed for failing to enrol. Today, the AEC encourages voluntary compliance and strives to make enrolling or updating enrolment as easy as possible. Anyone who has not enrolled in the past or updated their enrolment can do so without being fined.

Federal parliament debated the bill on compulsory enrolment in 1911. The words of Senator George Pearce still resonate today. "Too often [voting] is looked upon merely as a privilege, because people throughout the world have had to fight for it – in some instances under distressing conditions … but I venture to say that in a country like Australia, where we recognise that every man and woman should have the right to vote, that right becomes more than a privilege – it becomes a duty."

Compulsory enrolment helps create an up-to-date and accurate electoral roll. This is important because the electoral roll is a tool for delivering the franchise, in an equal and non-discriminatory way. It is the foundation of a fair election."

Mr Ed Killesteyn, Electoral Commissioner

Quick facts

• Australia first created a Commonwealth electoral roll in 1901.
• The Electoral Office at the time found it difficult to maintain a correct electoral roll as the population was constantly moving. Electoral officers and police went from house to house, updating the roll. Not surprisingly, it was a costly and difficult exercise.
• In 1911 a bill for compulsory enrolment was introduced into Parliament by Australia's 5th Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher.
• The bill was passed by both houses of parliament with amendments in December 1911 and formally commenced on 27 March 1912.
• Australia was the first Commonwealth country to introduce compulsory enrolment.
• Australian citizens aged 18 years and over must be enrolled before they can vote in Australian elections.
• Australian citizens can enrol from the age of 16, but can't vote until they turn 18.

The second federal election, held on 16 December 1903, was the first to take place according to uniform voting rights and electoral procedures in all States. These new rules were set down in the Commonwealth Franchise Act and the Commonwealth Electoral Act.

Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902

The 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act expressed the predominant views of the time about who had the right to be represented in the Parliament of Australia. It required voters to be British subjects1 aged 21 years or over. It did not discriminate on the basis of marital status or property ownership. It declared that women were entitled to vote. But while it extended voting rights to some, it refused those rights to others.

'Disqualification of coloured races. No aboriginal native of Australia, Asia, Africa or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand shall be entitled to have his name placed on an Electoral Roll unless so entitled under section forty-one of the Constitution.'

Clause 4, Commonwealth Franchise Act, 1902.

At the 1903 federal election, in accordance with the new law, many women were able to vote, and stand for parliament, for the first time. People who did not own property were eligible to vote for both Houses of Parliament. But Indigenous Australians and 'natives' of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands (with the exception of New Zealand) were not allowed to vote because of their race.

In theory, on the basis of section 41 of the Constitution, this rule did not apply to people in the excluded categories if they were entitled to vote in State elections.

'41. No adult person who has or acquires a right to vote at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of a State shall, while the right continues, be prevented by any law of the Commonwealth from voting at elections for either House of the Parliament of the Commonwealth'.

But the intention to exclude people from the federal vote on the basis of race was forcefully pursued. The narrowest interpretation of the law ensured that there were as few exceptions to the rule of exclusion as possible. For instance, people who had the right to vote in their State but had not enrolled in a State electorate before 1902 were disqualified from voting federally.

In 1924, an Indian British subject who had been given the right to vote in Victoria after 1902, took the Commonwealth to court when he was refused the right to vote in federal elections. As a result Commonwealth legislation in 1925 enfranchised Indians in Australia. People who had been naturalised but excluded from voting on the basis of race also became eligible.

This legislation had no impact on Indigenous people. As a result of the 1902 Franchise Act and its narrow interpretation, many Indigenous people came to believe that they did not have the right to vote in any circumstances and even if they were legally entitled to vote, did not apply to enrol. The minority arguments in favour of Indigenous voting rights put by original members of the Commonwealth Parliament did not gain strength until after the Second World War.

In 1949, Commonwealth electoral legislation was amended to give the federal vote to Indigenous people who had either served in the Defence Forces or who had State voting rights. In 1962 the right to vote in federal elections was granted to all Indigenous Australians. But it was not until 1984 that it was compulsory for them to both enrol and vote.

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902

The Commonwealth Electoral Act established the machinery and regulations for federal elections. Commonwealth Divisional Returning Officers were appointed to manage the electoral process within newly defined federal divisions or electorates. Before the 1903 election, new federal electoral rolls had to be created and then checked by electors to ensure that their names were on the list. There was great scope for confusion. For instance, at Kurri Kurri, in the Division of Hunter, only a telegram to the State Electoral Office, on the morning of the election, saved about 1000 people from being unable to vote.2

The regulations under the Act included details of postal voting and hours in which polling booths were open. They did not specify when elections should be held. The 1903 election was held on a Wednesday. Polling booths were open from 8am to 7pm and postal votes were granted to any person more than five miles from a polling place on the day of voting. Federal elections were not held on Saturdays until 1912.

On the basis of the Act, the method of election in 1903 was what is sometimes termed, 'first past the post'. To be elected a candidate had to achieve the highest number of votes in the first count.3

Voters indicated their choice by marking the box next to the candidate's name with a cross. It was not compulsory to vote. It became compulsory for eligible voters to enrol in 1912 and compulsory for them to vote in 1924.

In this Section:

The Commonwealth of Australia was formed on 1 January 1901 when the six colonies (now States) federated to form the new nation. A Federal Parliament, consisting of two houses - the House of Representatives and the Senate - was established to govern the new nation. It is at federal elections that eligible Australians elect people to represent them in both houses of Parliament.

History of electoral administration

Following the enactment of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902, an electoral office was established as a branch of the Department of Home Affairs to administer the conduct of federal elections and referendums. For the next 70 years the office functioned as a branch of various Commonwealth departments. The Australian Electoral Office Act 1973 established the Australian Electoral Office as a statutory authority responsible to the Minister for Services and Property. On 21 February 1984 following major amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act) the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) was established as an independent statutory authority.

The role of the Australian Electoral Commission

The AEC is responsible for providing Australians with an independent electoral service that meets their needs and enhances their understanding of and participation in the electoral process.

Eight processes uniquely identify the AEC:

• preparing for, conducting and reviewing elections
• managing the Commonwealth electoral roll
• educating and informing the community about participating in the electoral process
• providing advice and assistance on electoral matters in Australia and overseas
• ensuring that political parties and others comply with financial disclosure requirements
• supporting electoral redistributions
• conducting research into electoral matters
• providing information and advice to Parliament and the Special Minister of State on electoral matters

The structure of the Australian Electoral Commission

The AEC is organised on a geographic basis with the central office in Canberra; a head office in each State capital city and the Northern Territory; and a divisional office in or near each of the 150 electoral divisions.

The AEC is headed by a Commission consisting of a Chairperson (who must be a judge or a retired judge of the Federal Court), the Electoral Commissioner (who performs the functions of the Chief Executive Officer) and a part-time non-judicial member (usually the Australian Statistician). In addition, the Deputy Electoral Commissioner assists the Electoral Commissioner.

In each State and the Northern Territory, the Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) is responsible for the management of electoral activities within their State or Territory. The ACT is managed by the NSW AEO, and during the election period an ACT AEO is appointed. The AEO is the returning officer for the Senate election in their State or Territory. Each electoral division has a permanent Divisional Returning Officer (DRO) who is responsible for electoral administration in his or her division. The DRO is the returning officer for the House of Representatives election in their division.

The AEC administers the following Acts:

• Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
• Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984

The AEC also has specific functions under the Constitution and the following Acts:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989
• Workplace Relations Act 1996
• Public Service Act 1999
• Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997

Legislation changes since the 2001 election

A number of changes have been made during the 40th Parliament to the Acts administered by the AEC. These include amendments:

• removing the roll from sale in any format and extending the end-use restrictions for roll information to all forms of the roll to prevent the use of the roll for purposes other than those permitted by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act)
• allowing scrutineers to be present at pre-poll voting centres, and govern the behaviour of scrutineers at pre-poll voting centres
• extending the time in which Australians overseas can either apply for eligible overseas elector status or enrol from outside Australia for eligible overseas elector status, from two to three years
• including the sex and date of birth of electors on the certified list as a check on fraudulent voting
• amending the prohibition that prevents prisoners voting so that it affects prisoners serving a sentence of three years or more (instead of five years or more as previously)
• allowing registered political parties and independent members of parliament to be provided, on request, with certain information about where electors voted on election day
• increasing the penalty for multiple voting and make each additional occasion a separate offence, as well as increasing the penalty for false witnessing of enrolment forms
• allowing for the use of a measure of error in determining the ACT and NT's entitlement to representation in the House of Representatives.

A more comprehensive description of the amendments made during the 40th Parliament can be found in the Electoral Newsfile No. 117.

A polling place in the ACT

Redistribution of electoral boundaries

Each State and Territory is divided into voting areas called electoral divisions, with electors in each division electing a Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives.

A redistribution (or redrawing) of the geographic boundaries of these divisions takes place at least once every seven years to make sure that there is, as near as practicable, the same number of electors in each division within a State/Territory. The procedures for conducting redistributions are outlined in the Act.

Following the 2001 federal election, redistributions were undertaken in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Boundaries were also changed between elections in the Northern Territory.

The redistribution conducted over 2002-2003 in Victoria was triggered as seven years had elapsed since the last redistribution. This redistribution resulted in some changes to existing boundaries in Victoria, however the number of divisions was not changed. The names of 36 of the 37 divisions were retained. The Division of Burke was abolished, and a new division was created in the west of Melbourne, the Division of Gorton.

As a result of population changes, redistributions were conducted in 2003 in Queensland and South Australia. It was determined that population growth in Queensland meant that the State was entitled to one more seat in the House of Representatives. In Queensland the boundaries of the existing 27 divisions were adjusted to include Bonner, the new 28th division. In South Australia, it was determined that the State was entitled to one less seat in the House of Representatives. Boundaries were adjusted and the Division of Bonython was abolished.

In 2004, the Northern Territory reverted to two electoral divisions, Divisions of Lingiari and Solomon. This was the result of the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Representation in the House of Representatives) Act 2004 setting aside the determination made in 2003, which saw the Northern Territory change from two electoral divisions (the Divisions of Lingiari and Solomon) to one (the Division of the Northern Territory). The amendment reverts the Northern Territory to the previously established Divisions of Lingiari and Solomon. As a result of this amendment, at the 2004 federal election Northern Territory electors elected members to the House of Representatives for Lingiari and Solomon.

At the 2004 federal election, electors were electing 150 members to the House of Representatives, the same number as at the 2001 federal election.

The number of divisions in each State and Territory at the 2004 federal election was: