Labor pushes for polling booth ‘exclusion zones’ after surge in volunteer abuse

Voters risk being driven away from the ballot box by a surge in “aggressive and intimidatory” behaviour, the Australian Labor Party has warned, as it urged a bipartisan review into the election recommend new protections into federal law.

The party is backing a suite of reforms — including expanded exclusion zones and a code of conduct for volunteers — following reports that 2025 campaign tactics actively undermined public participation in the democratic process.

Appearing before the federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, which is reviewing the conduct of the last election, ALP national secretary Paul Erickson said the party had received widespread reports of intimidation and obstruction at polling places across the country.

The Australian Electoral Commission, an independent agency responsible for the management and oversight of elections, told the inquiry last year there was a rise of “aggressive, obstructive and, at times offensive” behaviour at polling places, notably in metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney in areas that were considered close seats.

Erickson said the incidents at pre-poll centres and polling booths appeared to represent an increase compared with previous elections and had been reported across states and territories.

“Disturbingly those accounts included incidents of that behaviour not just occurring between volunteers and candidates, but actually affecting voters’ participation in the election,” he said.

“Many of our own volunteers and campaign staff who recounted feeling unsafe and intimidated and a number of volunteers indicated that these experiences left them uncertain about whether they would be comfortable volunteering at polling booths at future elections,” he said.

The party is urging the committee to recommend changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act to better regulate campaigning near polling stations and strengthen the powers and resources of the AEC.

Erickson said the AEC’s authority was largely limited to enforcing rules inside the existing six-metre exclusion zone at polling booths, leaving it with few options to deal with conduct occurring just beyond that boundary.

Labor supports creating a formal “campaign zone” outside the six-metre boundary where only volunteers formally nominated by a candidate or registered campaign organisation would be allowed to hand out material.

The proposal would also provide the administrative framework for a code of conduct governing volunteers and a system to record complaints and incidents at polling booths.

Erickson said the party also backed limits on campaign signage around polling places to reduce clutter and obstruction.

“We would welcome a recommendation that the Commonwealth Electoral Act be amended to place limits on campaign signage at polling places, to increase accessibility, limit waste and address issues with obstruction of walkways.”

The AEC has warned that expanding its powers to curb poor campaign conduct required “careful consideration” despite successful reforms in other regions. States like Tasmania and Victoria have already implemented restrictions on signage and exclusion zones, while South Australia has banned roadside posters entirely. However, experts warn that measures effective in state or territory jurisdictions may not necessarily translate to the unique scale of a federal election.

Labor also raised the growing role of early voting and challenges around voter participation, warning than calls to wind back pre-poll should be ignored.

About 37.5 per cent of ballots at the 2025 federal election were cast at pre-poll centres, up about five percentage points on the previous election.

Erickson said the timing of the election — squeezed between the Easter break and Anzac Day — meant there were fewer available pre-poll days, contributing to longer queues and pressure on voting centres.

“We saw more voters attending pre-poll voting centres and fewer opportunities to do so … and so we saw as a result of that less smooth voting processes at the pre-poll voting centres and more queuing.”

Labor is urging the electoral commission to review resourcing at early voting centres to ensure they can cope with growing demand.

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