A parliamentary committee is inviting submissions for its inquiry into this year’s federal election. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Federal Parliament wants to know all about your election experience from this year’s May campaign and how you think things could be better.
The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is now inviting submissions to its inquiry into the 2025 federal election.
New terms of parliament have been undertaking reviews after federal elections for some time now and this one’s no different.
Or maybe it is, with concerning intimidation levels being examined and views sought on fixed four-year terms for future elections.
The committee has been tasked with exploring it all, and its chair, Labor’s Member for Bennelong Jerome Laxale, is keen to know what Australian voters thought about how this year’s poll was conducted.
“The inquiry plays an important role in ensuring the Australian public have their say in how their elections are run,” Mr Laxale said.
“We have one of the oldest and most respected democracies on earth. Keeping that standard requires ongoing scrutiny.
“Matters widely reported during the 2025 election raise serious questions about safety, security and voter experience.”
There were some serious issues reported during the campaign and on election day over incidents of officials, volunteers and voters being intimidated.
The committee wants to hear them in detail.
“Voters, volunteers and officials should never feel intimidated, harassed or have such an experience that they are discouraged from participating at future elections,” Mr Laxale said.
The terms of reference of the inquiry call on the committee to focus its attention on the following emerging issues:
- Assessment and review of the purported increase in incidents of aggressive conduct, deliberate obstruction, and intimidating behaviour towards voters, political participants, volunteers, and Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) officials;
- Potential reform of safety and security arrangements, including consideration of the powers, processes, and capacity of the AEC to manage and address increasingly threatening or disruptive behaviour;
- Reforms to address the ongoing threats of interference in our electoral system, both foreign and domestic;
- The composition of the parliament as a whole, including the length of the parliamentary term, the potential for fixed terms, and the number of elected representatives relative to the growth in population and the electorate.
That point will be of particular interest to Labor, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese making no secret he would prefer fixed four-year parliamentary terms at the federal level.
He has also made it clear he won’t be sending Australians to a referendum anytime soon on the issue.
“I support fixed four-year terms. Always have,” he said on Tuesday (2 September).
“Referendums are pretty hard to carry in this country.
“Opportunism kicks in and unless you have bipartisan support, then it’s not going to be supported.
“I have no intention of any referendums this term. I made clear my government’s position, but we support it.
“If people want to go out there and advocate and build support for it, that would be a sensible thing.”
The full terms of reference for the inquiry are available on the inquiry webpage, where submissions can also be uploaded.
Submissions addressing any or all of the terms of reference are now invited and can be made any time before the committee starts its public hearings on the inquiry in mid-October.
The committee’s program of public hearings will be announced as the inquiry progresses.
The AEC has described the 2025 federal poll count as the largest and most complex election ever conducted.
Some 18,126,205 Australians were registered to vote, with 98.1 per cent of those eligible to enrol.
Prepoll voting was also at its highest-ever level.
