This bill did not become law and is no longer proceeding.
Government & democracy
Voters would have to send postal vote applications directly to the Australian Electoral CommissionThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., instead of political parties or candidates sending them on for voters.
Political parties and candidates were collecting postal vote applications through generic reply-paid envelopes, leaving voters unaware their personal details could be captured and used before applications reached the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill.. Kate Chaney MPAn elected representative in the House of Representatives; Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan are MPs mentioned on this page.’s bill requires voters to send postal vote applications directly to the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. and penalises parties or candidates who submit them for voters.
The Commonwealth Electoral ActThe main federal election law that this bill would amend to change how postal vote applications are returned. allowed political parties and candidates to send postal vote applicationThe form a voter uses to ask for ballot papers to be sent to them by mail before an election. material to voters, and the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. had warned in 2022 that some party material could mislead voters about where applications were going. After the 2025 election, MPs cited large-scale harvesting of postal voter details and AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. concerns about confusion, privacy and delays, so Kate Chaney MPAn elected representative in the House of Representatives; Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan are MPs mentioned on this page. introduced a private member’s bill to make voters return applications directly to the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., but it was later removed from the Notice PaperThe official parliamentary list of business waiting to be dealt with; removal from it ended this bill's recorded path through the House..
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, with the available parliamentary debate instead focusing on privacy, trust and reducing delays in postal vote applications. The recorded speakers supported requiring voters to return applications directly to the Australian Electoral CommissionThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., and no party represented in the debate opposed the bill.
Kate Chaney MPAn elected representative in the House of Representatives; Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan are MPs mentioned on this page. introduced this bill. Speeches supporting it came from some crossbench members.
Did it become law?
No
The bill did not complete passage through Parliament.
Final passage
No final passage
The bill has not completed passage and is no longer proceeding.
Time before failure
232 days
From introduction to the final recorded step before the bill stopped proceeding
Meaning
Voters would have to send postal vote applications directly to the Australian Electoral CommissionThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., instead of political parties or candidates sending them on for voters.
Political parties and candidates would face a 100 penalty unitA standard dollar amount used to calculate fines in Commonwealth law, so a 100 penalty unit fine means 100 times the current unit value. civil penaltyA financial penalty that can be imposed for breaking a rule, without treating the breach as a criminal offence. if they made a general postal voter registration applicationAn application to be listed as someone who automatically receives postal voting material for future federal elections, rather than applying each time. for a voter.
Political parties and candidates would face a 100 penalty unitA standard dollar amount used to calculate fines in Commonwealth law, so a 100 penalty unit fine means 100 times the current unit value. civil penaltyA financial penalty that can be imposed for breaking a rule, without treating the breach as a criminal offence. if they sent a voter’s postal vote applicationThe form a voter uses to ask for ballot papers to be sent to them by mail before an election. to election officials for that voter.
Political parties and candidates could still send postal vote applicationThe form a voter uses to ask for ballot papers to be sent to them by mail before an election. forms to voters, but voters would need to return the forms to the Australian Electoral CommissionThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. themselves.
This Bill amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act to protect voters’ personal information, by removing the role of political parties or candidates in submitting postal vote applications.Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Protecting Voters) explanatory memorandum
An application for registration as a general postal voter for a Division must not be made, in respect and on behalf of an elector, by:Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Protecting Voters) introduced bill text
An application form for a postal vote must not be sent, on behalf of the applicant, to the Electoral Commissioner or Assistant Returning Officer by:Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Protecting Voters) introduced bill text
With this bill in place, parties can still send postal vote application forms to voters to assist them but they cannot include sneaky reply-paid envelopes that direct those forms back to them or their associates—so they can't harvest voter data. The form must be sent to the AEC directly. The AEC can then send the necessary papers so the voter can vote by post. The relationship between the voter and the AEC is protected under this bill without political actors inserting themselves into that relationship for political gain. There are many other areas of electoral reform that need to be addressed, and I'll be dealing with some of those in my submission to the JSCEM inquiry and evidence to that committee.Second reading speech
Context
The Commonwealth Electoral ActThe main federal election law that this bill would amend to change how postal vote applications are returned. allowed political parties and candidates to send postal vote applicationThe form a voter uses to ask for ballot papers to be sent to them by mail before an election. material to voters, and the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. had warned in 2022 that some party material could mislead voters about where applications were going. After the 2025 election, MPs cited large-scale harvesting of postal voter details and AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. concerns about confusion, privacy and delays, so Kate Chaney MPAn elected representative in the House of Representatives; Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan are MPs mentioned on this page. introduced a private member’s bill to make voters return applications directly to the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., but it was later removed from the Notice PaperThe official parliamentary list of business waiting to be dealt with; removal from it ended this bill's recorded path through the House..
AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. warns parties about misleading postal vote applications
AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. Commissioner Tom Rogers wrote to registered political parties after reports of incorrect forms, AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill.-like purple colouring and generically named websites that could mislead voters.
Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Protecting Voters) explanatory memorandum ↗Parties harvest details from more than 670,000 postal voters
During debate, MPs said the 2025 election showed the scale of party collection of postal vote applicationThe form a voter uses to ask for ballot papers to be sent to them by mail before an election. data and repeated AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill. concerns about confusion, privacy and processing delays.
Second reading speech ↗Kate Chaney MPAn elected representative in the House of Representatives; Kate Chaney and Monique Ryan are MPs mentioned on this page. introduces the bill
The private member’s bill proposed to stop parties and candidates submitting postal vote applications for voters while still allowing them to send application forms to voters.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Bill is removed from the Notice PaperThe official parliamentary list of business waiting to be dealt with; removal from it ended this bill's recorded path through the House.
The bill was removed from the House Notice PaperThe official parliamentary list of business waiting to be dealt with; removal from it ended this bill's recorded path through the House. under standing order 42A House of Representatives rule that can remove private members' business from the Notice Paper if it has not progressed within the allowed time., ending this recorded parliamentary pathway without passage.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Key criticism
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, with the available parliamentary debate instead focusing on privacy, trust and reducing delays in postal vote applications. The recorded speakers supported requiring voters to return applications directly to the Australian Electoral CommissionThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill., and no party represented in the debate opposed the bill.
Criticism may emerge if later scrutiny raises access, administration or campaign-communication concerns.
Votes
No recorded votes were found before this bill stopped proceeding.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
Kate Chaney strongly supports the bill, saying it will stop parties and candidates from harvesting voters' personal data through postal vote applications and restore trust and transparency in the electoral system.
Read in Hansard ↗Monique Ryan strongly supports the bill, saying it would stop political parties harvesting postal voters' personal information and reduce confusion and delays by requiring postal vote applications to go only from voters to the AECThe federal agency that runs Australian elections and would have to receive postal vote applications directly from voters under this bill..
Read in Hansard ↗All speeches by bloc
2 speakers · 2 support
“This bill amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act to ensure that only voters themselves, not political parties or candidates, can submit postal vote applications to the AEC. It prohibits third parties from on-sending an application for a postal vote on behalf of a voter. It's a straightforward fix. It doesn't cost anything, it doesn't limit political communication and it doesn't interfere with anyone's right to vote. What it does do is protect Australians' personal information. It restores transparency to the postal voting process and it helps rebuild trust in our electoral process—something we should all be working together to strengthen, not exploit.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
“It's extraordinary that third-party postal vote data harvesting has been allowed to go on for so long. This bill amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act to ensure that postal vote applications can be sent to the AEC only by voters. It's an important integrity measure. It's a simple fix to a significant problem. I thank my colleague for raising this issue and I commend the bill to the House.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
House · Removed from the Notice Paper in accordance with (SO 42)
Removed from the Notice PaperThe official parliamentary list of business waiting to be dealt with; removal from it ended this bill's recorded path through the House. in accordance with (SO 42)
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
