2 October 1999

There may be more than four weeks until polling day but there is less than a week until the rolls for the coming referendum are closed.

The Australian Electoral Commissioner, Mr Bill Gray said today that electors only had until 8pm next Friday, 8 October to make sure that they were correctly enrolled.

"The writ for the referendum was issued today and this marks the official start of the referendum period. It also acts as a reminder to a lot of people who haven't yet enrolled, to fill out an enrolment form," Mr Gray said.

"Most of these are young, first time voters who haven't yet got around to enrolling."

But by far the largest group of people who will contact the Electoral Commission over the coming days will be people who have changed address and have forgotten to update their enrolment.

"At the last election almost 70% of the cards received during this final week were to notify the AEC of change of address," Mr Gray said.

Anyone needing to check their enrolment can ring the Electoral Commission on 13 23 26 between 8.00am and 6.00pm.

For the 1998 election there were just over 12 million people on the Commonwealth electoral roll. Currently there are nearly 12.2 million people on the roll.

Enrolment forms are available from Post Offices or from offices of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) or they can be printed from the AEC homepage at referendum.aec.gov.au.

Completed cards must be received by the Commission by 8pm on Friday, 8 October 1999. Enrolling and voting are compulsory in referendums for all Australian citizens aged 18 years or older.

Further information:

Brien Hallett
Director Information
02 62714415

Anthea Wilson
Assistant Director Information
03 9285 7114