New Data has shown that Indigenous enrollment rates are on the rise after a concentrated effort by the Australian Electoral Commission to get more First Nations ready to vote .
The AEC’s data showed that there was a sudden rise in enrollment rates from June to December last year resulting in 21,000 more Indigenous Australians registered to vote.
The 3.5 per cent increase in enrollment numbers now means that 84.5 per cent of all First Nations People are registered to vote with estimations placing just under 87,000 Indigenous Australians yet to enroll.
The news comes after the AEC was given $16.1 million to address the issue.
Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers has called the rise significant but acknowledged more needs to be done in order to address the enrollment gap.
Get Up! CEO Larissa Baldwin-Roberts supports the efforts made to address the enrollment gap, however her main concerns remain with voter turnout.
“We saw that while enrolment numbers had increased across the board for First Nations communities, voter turnout for the 2022 federal election had decreased significantly from the previous election,” she said.
Baldwin-Roberts said a more hands on approach was needed to find a solution calling for “accessibility, education, translators at the booths, and election notices in communities and, ensuring the AEC has a longer presence in communities.”
