The federal Minister for Indigenous Australians has expressed concern over the ability of First Nations people in the Northern Territory to vote in the upcoming election, with wet weather predicted to impact remote communities.
At a joint press conference with Solomon MP Luke Gosling, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy was asked about the possibility of a late wet season across the Labor-held seat of Lingiari and the impacts it could have on people voting—especially in remote communities.
"It is a worry," the Minister said.
"We are very much mindful of the fact that we have a large population that is dispersed across the Northern Territory, we're certainly watching the weather pattern from Western Australia.
"It does usually go through the centre, the Tanamai [Desert] and down to Alice Springs and we will naturally be watching, and I'm sure the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is too."
Of the estimated 53,150 Indigenous people in the NT of voting age, 46,733 (87.9 per cent) were enrolled to vote as of June 30 last year—the second lowest rate in the country after WA.
More than 6,000 First Nations people are not currently enrolled.
The seat of marginal Lingiari, held by Labor MP Marion Scrymgour, a Tiwi Anmatjere woman, encompasses the entirety of the NT - other than Darwin and Palmerston - and includes all the Territories' remote Indigenous communities.
Asked what more is needed to be done to allow communities in Lingiari the chance to exercise their right to vote, Senator McCarthy said the government and the AEC were watching what is happening with the weather, noting the AEC "does try to adjust, whether it's weather conditions or sorry business".
"We have had in the past to give information about different events and activities that are going on. Sometimes, festivals also take people away from particular polling booths. It is a constant watch, and we'll obviously be keeping an eye on this one," she said.
In the recent WA state election, residents of the remote town of Nullagine, 1,300km north of Perth, had their mobile polling cancelled in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Zelia.
The town's 1,200 residents faced a 400km trip to Newman to vote, with the one-hour window for remote polling in Marble Bar - a 200km round trip from Nullagine - unable to be accessed as the road between the two towns was closed.
In the 2022 election, Lingiari has the lowest postal vote in the country at just 4.5 per cent, due largely to the lack of regular postal delivery services across the electorate.
It relies heavily on mobile polling teams to collect votes by visiting remote communities during the election campaign, with the last election seeing mobile teams collecting ten times more votes in Lingiari than any other electorate in the country.
Furthermore, at the last election, Lingiari saw a voter turnout of 66.8 per cent—the lowest in the country, with a drop in mobile voting.
Senator McCarthy said the lack of engagement in the electorate, with some polling stations seeing voter turnout of less than 50 per cent, was "very troubling".
"What we saw in terms of the Northern Territory election and the low voter turnout, that has been front and centre, certainly for myself, for Luke [Gosling] and for Marion [Scrymgour] as we travel around," she said, "but I am conscious that the Australian Electoral Commission is aware of that."
Highlighting the overwhelming number of remote electorates in the NT that voted Yes in the Voice Referendum, Senator McCarthy added: "We're obviously conscious that there's been a different feeling on events for First Nations people and families. So, we're travelling and doing our best to communicate the fact that an election is coming up."
