The turnout level in Australia’s most recent General Election was 91%, compared to only 60% in the UK, and Australia has achieved voter registration levels of 98%, compared to just 86% in the UK. The Government’s impact assessment suggests that the moves towards automatic voter registration will increase voter registration rates by less than 0.8% in two years, perhaps in time for the next election.
Do the Government accept that low turnouts and there being perhaps 8 million people missing from our electoral registers severely weaken the health of our democracy? What more will they do to address these issues?