Indigenous Electoral Participation Program

The Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP) is a new AEC program currently being established to improve the electoral knowledge of Indigenous people in Australia and to encourage them to participate in the electoral process.

The new program is an initiative of the government and funding of $13 million over four years was provided in the 2009-10 federal budget.

The program will target Indigenous people in remote, rural and urban areas Australia wide. The objectives are:

• to improve electoral knowledge in Indigenous communities, and
• to encourage Indigenous people to participate in the electoral system (in particular, to increase enrolment levels, voter turnout and formal voting).

The design and development of the program is underway and expected to be completed by February 2010. The next steps will be recruitment of Indigenous staff (by March 2010) followed by implementation of the program by July 2010.

Your vote matters DVD

The Your vote matters DVD for Indigenous Australians provides information on why we vote, how to register to vote and what to do with the ballot papers. You can download segments below.

• A message from Brothablack: ‘Are you with me’
• Your vote matters
• Filling in the ballot papers

Messages from the AEC’s Indigenous Community Education and Information Officers

The AEC’s Indigenous Community Education and Information Officers (CEIOs) have been visiting indigenous communities to encourage Indigenous people to enrol and make their votes count. They have also appeared on radio and television and in the Koori mail, encouraging Indigenous people to vote on election day. Listen to their messages below.

• Pauline Middleton [MP3 830k]
• Jacqueline Freeburn [MP3 767k]
• Barbara Tolhurst [MP3 660k]

History of the Indigenous Vote

The AEC has produced the educational resource History of the Indigenous Vote, which traces the history of Indigenous people's right to vote in Australia, from Indigenous voting prior to federation through to recent times.

• History of the Indigenous Vote [PDF 1.3MB]

For a shorter summary of Indigenous voting in Australia, you can read 'Indigenous people and the vote' an article by Pat Stretton (Research Officer with the State History Centre in South Australia).

• Indigenous people and the vote