Thousands of people — including a significant number of First Nations Australians — will be prevented from voting on the referendum to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament if amendments to the referendum machinery bill are voted down in the Senate.
The Greens have put forward an amendment to the referendum machinery act to allow incarcerated people to be eligible to vote in the upcoming referendum.
Currently incarcerated people serving sentences of more than three years are ineligible to vote in federal elections of referendums, but those sentenced to less than three years, or on periodic detention, or on early release, or on parole are eligible.
ABS data from last year shows around 42,000 people are in prison in Australia, and around 13,000 of them are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, although the length of their sentences is not indicated.
The Greens' spokesperson for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Dorinda Cox, said the government had a responsibility to allow as many people as possible to vote, particularly First Nations Australians.
"At its core, the Voice actually allows First Nations people to have a say on matters that affect them, and yet many First Nations people will not have a chance to have their voice actually heard during this referendum process, particularly if the amendments before you don't get up.
"Voting is a right, it is not a privilege. It is the job of this government to make sure that voting is as easy as possible for everyone, regardless of where they are across this vast country," Senator Cox said.
"If they may be in prison, hospital, in a remote community or even abroad they should have that opportunity and that right."
The are a slew of amendments being debated in the Senate on the bill, including changes to rules around advertising and social media, putting a fact-checking process in place for the referendum pamphlet, and around proposals to allow provisional and telephone voting.
It is likely the Senate will vote on the machinery bill this week, to set the rules and regulations around the referendum in place.
Indigenous voter participation lower across the board
The over-representation of Indigenous people in prison is one of the issues in getting Indigenous Australians to enrol and participate in elections.
Around 97 per cent of Australians are enrolled to vote, but that number drops significantly for First Nations people, with only 84.5 per cent of the population enrolled.
There are many barriers to enrolment, including requirements for identification documents some Indigenous people do not have and the AEC not using auto-enrolment processes for parts of remote Australia.
Widjabul Wia-bal woman and chief executive of GetUp Larissa Baldwin-Roberts says there needs to be a focus on getting more Indigenous people to participate in elections across the board, not just in prisons.
"In terms of the amendments that are up there, a couple that are really important to us, I think voting reform allowing people who are incarcerated to vote is incredibly important," she said.
"For the First Nations people who are incarcerated, our numbers are much lower than the general population when it comes to enrolment and actually participating in elections.
"Broader than that, we do believe that everyone should have the right to participate in our democracy," Ms Baldwin-Roberts said.
Special Minister of State Don Farrell says the point of the machinery bill is to bring referendum regulations into line with federal election processes.
"This bill is about ensuring that the experience that the people get when they go to the referendum is as close to the experience they get at a general federal election.
"We haven't had a referendum in this country since the late 1990s. This bill seeks to modernise Australia's Referendum Act and ensure that the voting process and voter experience mirrors that of a federal election," Mr Farrell said.
Ms Baldwin-Roberts says the government should be aiming to improve on that experience for Indigenous people at the referendum.
"In federal elections, our communities are massively under-represented. So we need to talk about pulling out all stops to make sure that First Nations people can be at the polls," Ms Baldwin-Roberts said.
"We need to build the demand around these things happening because our mob just aren't getting access to the polls."
Victorian model accounts for Indigenous prison population
In Victoria, the First People's Assembly (FPA) is gearing up for its second round of elections since the body was established in 2019.
The organisation is an elected, state-based advisory body to the Victorian state parliament on the treaty process between First Nations and the government.
It consults with Indigenous people who are incarcerated and provides the opportunity to vote for members in the election process.
Co-chair of the FPA Nira illim bulluk man Marcus Stewart says allowing equal access to voting for First Nations people in prison is critical.
"Our community in the prison systems are continually consulted on the key decisions around treaty, to make sure they've got a voice in this process, their aspirations are heard.
"And they've got a vote come election time, we make sure we've got booths at every prison, so every single Aboriginal prisoner, if they choose to, can vote in our process," Mr Stewart said.
He believes the federal government should be taking a similar approach for the referendum.
"I can't see why there can't be a process put in place for this referendum and then a broader piece of work to look at how we ensure that our people have the right to vote in elections in this country. It's their democratic right."
