20 hours Ago By Cam Wilson
The battle over who voters trust is a major contest in every election. So why do both major parties kick off each campaign by intentionally misleading as many voters as possible? I’m specifically talking about both the Coalition and Labor creating forms that appear to be postal vote registration forms but are, in reality, data harvesting operations for themselves. Both major parties do it.
Since I asked for tips about election shenanigans, I’ve been inundated by people sharing text messages and physical letters that they’re surprised to find out come from local members or party HQs and not the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). These messages are designed to look like they could be an official, non-partisan request. Yes, they include the requisite authorisations, but it’s done in a way that draws as little attention as possible.
The fact that you are being asked to hand over your details to a political party and not a trusted institute is intentionally obscured. I imagine that culturally and linguistically diverse voters may be especially likely to be fooled by this. If the Coalition or Labor were honest, they would admit that one of their main electoral strategies is hoodwinking the people who they hope will vote for them.
It actually boggles the mind that campaigns do this. During a crucial moment of the political cycle, both major parties send texts, pay for postage and create political advertisements to distribute something that will almost certainly leave a bad taste in a voter’s mouth. Not only that, but these messages may be the first and sometimes only interaction that a voter will have with these parties.
Don’t take my word for it. Search any social media website for the Liberal and Nationals’ “postal.vote” or Labor’s “howtovote.
org.au”. Most of the posts are from people disgusted that someone has tried to pull one over on them.
These text messages and mail-outs have become symbols of voters’ distrust in the major parties — and people are broadcasting that message to the rest of the world. Parties have used postal voting as a campaigning opportunity for quite a while. For decades , they’ve sent out postal vote applications along with campaign material — giving them an opportunity to reach voters at the exact moment they’re deciding who to vote for.
Sure, it’s a bit sneaky, but there was at leas a public benefit to ensuring that people were given an opportunity to have a postal vote. More recently, this has changed to something worse. Rather than helping voters sign up for a postal vote, the parties inserted themselves as intermediaries.
If you fill out their digital forms, you’re redirected to the AEC to fill out the actual postal vote registration. If you return their physical letter, the form with all your details first goes to party HQ which then passes it on to the AEC. The major parties inserting themselves as a middleman in this process creates risk.
Given how closely these online forms mimic the AEC, it’s not unimaginable that someone would assume they had signed up for a postal vote form without actually continuing through to fill out the AEC form. It’s an even bigger issue when it comes to physical forms. Receiving, harvesting and redirecting postal vote applications takes time in an already compressed election campaign period.
This has cost some the chance to vote in the past, according to the AEC: “Many complaints were received from voters who experienced lengthy waits between applying via party PVA [postal vote application] and receiving their postal vote. In some cases, the timing meant that voters were then unable to vote,” reads the AEC’s submission to the 2022 federal election parliamentary review. The AEC has raised the alarm about the “eligibility confusion and privacy concerns” created by these party postal vote applications.
The commission has even written to major parties, politely asking that they don’t send out these forms. Election integrity issues aside, what about the integrity of politics itself? Politicians of all stripes complain about the falling trust in government. And then every three or so years, their most direct contact with a lot of voters is in the form of a scam.
Speaking of scams: one of the biggest achievements of the Albanese government has been the establishment of the National Anti-Scam Centre. In fact, it’s invested $180 million fighting cons and ruses that hurt Australians. Which makes it all the more craven that when push comes to shove, Labor’s more than happy — along with the Coalition — to do exactly what its centre calls an “impersonation scam”.
As the centre’s ScamWatch website warns, “scammers impersonate trusted businesses, friends or family, to steal your money or personal information.” (In one recent case, messages sent by the Nationals for this purpose were literally flagged as spam). I get it.
There’s clearly a benefit to parties having up-to-date contact details for a portion of the electorate that actually answers its mail. Obviously, neither party wants to give it up and leave the other one with a major advantage. And trust in institutions is only important if you’re the one who’s controlling the institution, which you need to win an election to do.
But in a moment where it’s so hard to break through to voters, you know what would get a lot of attention? Saying “Hey, we’re sorry we did this in the past but we don’t want to rely on deception to campaign.” You could publicly challenge your opponent to do the same thing and trap them: are they going to commit to being scammy or be forced to follow your lead when everyone’s paying attention. There’s a lot of things that the major parties could do to win back voters’ trust, and stopping this kind of activity is the lowest hanging fruit.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll even win more elections when voters don’t think that you’re treating them like rubes. Have something to say about this article? Write to us at [email protected].
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