The Liberal Party is being accused of spamming voters, over text messages being sent out in the lead-up to the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
Many Australians posted on social media on Tuesday night about receiving an SMS urging them to vote No, and also to apply to carry out a postal vote.
The text messages, like pamphlets distributed in recent days, included a link to a website authorised by the Liberal Party.
The Australian Electoral Commission is the independent authority responsible for running the referendum.
So why were people receiving text messages from the Opposition’s Indigenous Australians spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and the WA Liberal party about postal voting applications?
Postal voting allows people who are unable to attend a polling place in person to take part in the referendum.
Australian Electoral Commission spokesperson Evan Ekin-Smyth told SBS News about 14 per cent of votes in the 2022 federal election were cast this way.
About half of all votes were done in person on polling day, with the remainder submitted in the two weeks leading up to the election at early polling centres.
Postal voting for the referendum
.
“We had something like 30,000 in the first three hours, so there’s tens of thousands of postal vote applications that have already been lodged,” Ekin-Smyth said.
The AEC has a
dedicated page about postal voting
, where people can find unbiased information about voting and apply for postal voting.
The text and the Liberal Party authorised website
The text messages sent on behalf of the Liberals and Price labelled the Voice proposal as “risky and divisive, with no details” and suggested people should vote No.
They finished with the call to action “To apply for a postal vote”, followed by a link.
The same link was provided on a pamphlet sent out jointly by Price, who is a Country Liberal Party senator, and Kevin Hogan, a Nationals MP, which lists “10 reasons to say No” to the Voice.
The website the link goes to has been authorised by the Liberal Party.
It lists some of the reasons a person may seek to vote via post and has an ‘apply’ button beneath them.
Upon clicking on it, people are asked to provide details including their name, address, email address and phone number.
When being asked for the last of these details, people are informed by submitting one’s details “you will be providing this information to the Liberal Party of Australia and the Nationals, who will contact you regarding the referendum”. Upon giving that information, the page redirects to the AEC’s postal vote application.
