A Liberal-National MP has called for a rethink of pre-poll voting at federal elections, including potentially shortening the amount of time booths are open, amid concerns of threats to voters and volunteers.
Security risks to politicians and their staff have been front and centre this week, as parliament returned after the alleged attack on Helen Haines, which left the independent MP in a serious but stable condition after both her legs were amputated.
The member for the Queensland electorate of Groom, Garth Hamilton, said the risk of having members of the public and volunteers lined up at booths near car parks or roads needed to be assessed.
“I’ve had three elections and I’ve witnessed three interactions between cars and people at pre-poll, two accidental, one wasn’t,” Hamilton said on Tuesday.
“The threat is already there, the potential is already there in a heightened environment.”
Pre-polling booths usually open one to two weeks before an election. The Toowoomba-based politician said the length of the pre-polling period, the allocation of resources at centres and the role of postal voting were all measures that could be considered to lower the risk to voters and staff.
“What we obviously want is not in any way to restrict anybody’s access to democracy, but we also want to make sure that it’s done in a safe way,” Hamilton said. “There’s a reasonable conversation to be had on the shape of pre-poll in Australia, if these threats are increasing, and that’s what we’re hearing from the AFP.”
Australians are increasingly choosing to vote early ahead of polling day. More than 9m votes, or 56%, were cast at early voting centres, according to the Australian Electoral Commission’s 2025 election report.
It is understood Jerome Laxale, a Labor MP who chairs the parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 election, raised safety and his committee’s interim report on the issue at a caucus meeting on Tuesday.
The report recommends the electoral commission reviews the resourcing requirements and duration of pre-poll voting to ensure adequate arrangements are in place, noting the rising number of people opting to cast their ballot early.
The AEC advised the committee that shortening the pre-poll period would not decrease early voting, but would instead “compress the growing demand into a shorter period and increase operational risks, such as queues and shortages of appropriate venues”.
Laxale, who has represented the NSW seat of Bennelong since 2022, said it was incumbent on the parliament to provide a safe and welcoming atmosphere at a polling booth.
“Democracy doesn’t collapse, it just crumbles,” he said.
“If people go, ‘you know what? I don’t want to deal with that. I’m not going to vote,’ then that has a snowball effect, which will undermine and erode our democratic process. Voting has to be safe and secure.”
Submissions to the inquiry detailed neo-Nazis turning up to booths with speakers, volunteers being bullied and harassed and voters leaving polling centres in tears.
The independent MP Monique Ryan said candidates, volunteers, and campaign workers facing threats of violence should be given clear guidance for how they might engage with federal and state police.
“We need to go back to democracy sausages and bake sales, not voters feeling intimidated and harassed as they approach polling booths,” she said.