Senator Eric Abetz

Following the last Federal election the Australian Electoral Commission identified 29,920 incidences where electors had potentially voted more than once for candidates standing for the Parliament.

NSW 10,500
VIC 8,064
QLD 5,263
WA 2,777
SA 1,800
TAS 655
ACT 506
NT 355
Total 29,920

The figures were obtained by Senate Opposition Leader Senator Eric Abetz, a former Special Minister of State.

After eliminating potential clerical errors some 16,189 electors received a 'please explain' from the AEC.

“More than 5 thousand of those who were questioned simply denied they had done it and no further action was taken,” Senator Abetz said.

“1458 voters actually admitted to having voted more than once however despite further investigation just 19 voters were referred to the AFP and just 3 of those were issued with an official police caution.”

“Multiple voting is a criminal offence; however it seems all you have to do is just say you didn’t do it and that’s end of the matter,” Senator Abetz said.”

“The seat of Calwell in Victoria had the highest numbers of multiple voting with 626, the lowest number was in Braddon in Tasmania with 81 recorded cases.”

“With almost 30 thousand potential cases of multiple voting identified Australia wide at the last election there is cause for genuine concern.”

“The sad fact is that no one has been prosecuted.”

“Clearly there needs to be a much greater emphasis on pursuing alleged offenders if we are to maintain confidence in our electoral system,” Senator Abetz said.