Call to end bullying of Indigenous voters

Bess Price, a former member of the Northern Territory parliament, has outlined examples of alleged bullying and harassment while appearing before an inquiry into the 2019 federal election.

In one case, at Milingimbi in East Arnhem, unions paid for a radio station to broadcast pro-Labor advertising in the local dialect of Yolngu Matha, which could be heard over loudspeakers within the polling booth.

Ms Price said to back it up, a Labor campaigner used "deliberately aggressive and intimidating" body language towards non-Labor supporters and "especially Aboriginal women".

A complaint was made and the man was moved out of a zone off-limits to campaigners, but he later moved back into the zone.

She also told the inquiry of incidents in which elderly voters were taken by bus from their remote communities and accompanied into polling booths by party workers, who then told them who to vote for.

"The older people, whose first language is not English, they are easily bullied," Ms Price said.

"There should be a clear message (from authorities) to these people doing this that it is not on - they should be fined."

Ms Price said one of the problems behind low voter turnout among Indigenous people was understanding why elections were necessary.

"Education is the key, to understand what the election is all about," she said.

"People need to understand ... why they have to vote and what the benefits are for them."

It is estimated that about 26,000 people in rural and remote communities in the NT are not enrolled to vote.

Another issue is around language, with more than 200 Indigenous languages spoken across the NT.

More funding for Indigenous media before and during election campaigns would help deal with the issue, Ms Price said.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said Indigenous enrolment had increased as a result of a range of programs, including videos in 18 different local languages and intensive campaigns in particular communities.

The NT's enrolment rate was 83.9 per cent for the 2019 election, which was a record, with Indigenous participation nationally increasing 3.3 per cent over the past four years.

Mr Rogers noted remote mobile voting in the NT was expensive, coming at a cost of $50 a vote compared with $17 on average nationally.

He said "sustained and long-term investment" was needed to improve the situation.

"This is an incredibly important but complex policy area," he said.

"We are always having discussions with government about our overall funding rate ... I'll never knock back cash."

Australian Associated Press