Should voting in referendums be voluntary?

By Yvonne Marsh

There has been much speculation about why the 2023 referendum on the Indigenous Voice proposal failed. Recurring themes include lack of bipartisan support, misinformation and lack of understanding by voters.

I suggest there may have been another stopper in the process worth considering: the voting system itself. How different would the final numbers have looked if voting in the referendum had not been compulsory? The outcome may or may not have been different, but the numbers might have told a different story.

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