Indigenous enrolment rate continues to trail pre-referendum levels

Jarred Cross Published September 18, 2025 at 5.00pm (AWST)

politics

Latest Australian Electoral Role data estimates 93 per cent of Indigenous Australians eligible to vote are enrolled, up marginally from 2024 but lower than pre-Voice referendum records. (Image: AEC Facebook)

The percentage of First Nations Australians enrolled to vote has made a slight increase in the previous 12 months, though figures still trail those reached ahead of the Voice referendum.

According to latest data from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), an estimated 93.0 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples eligible to vote are enrolled.

The figures are up marginally from the 92.9 per cent figure estimated in 2024, but down from the record 94.1 per cent enrolment recorded ahead of the referendum in 2023.

Indigenous enrolment eclipsed 90 per cent for the first time two years ago.

The AEC says 2025 marks the first time Indigenous enrolment is estimated to exceed 600,000 people, due to an increase of 16,000 people enrolling in the last year.

The national enrolment rate for Australia's general population last sat at 98.1 per cent.

Overall, Indigenous enrolment has grown significantly in the last decade.

In 2017, just shy of 75 per cent of eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were enrolled.

While the national rate is published every three months, Indigenous enrolment rate is estimated annually on June 30.

*(Images: Australian Electoral Commission)*

Acting Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope cited the work of the AEC's partnership model with Indigenous communities in relation to the recent figures.

"Indigenous enrolment figures have grown from 74.7 per cent since 2017, with an estimated increase of almost 249,000 additional enrolments in that time," Mr Pope said.

"We've been working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for many years now as part of our commitment to closing the gap in the Indigenous enrolment rate.

"There is clearly still more work to do, but we're very pleased with the significant increases to the figures over the past several years."

Across the states and territories, Tasmania presents the highest estimated Indigenous enrolment (98.0 per cent) followed by NSW (97.2 per cent) then South Australia, Victoria, ACT and Queensland, which all sit between 91 and 94 per cent.

Western Australia has the lowest estimated Indigenous enrolment in 2025 at 86.6 per cent with the Northern Territory at 87.6 per cent.