A powerful Northern Territory land council has accused the Australian Electoral Commission of failing Aboriginal people by not engaging more bush voters to have their say at the federal election.
Voter enrolment in the remote NT remains low, at around 70 per cent, and the AEC now has less than one week to convince more people to sign up before enrolments for the May 21 election close.
Northern Land Council chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi branded the AEC as "discriminatory" and said the organisation had left it too late to attempt to drive voter numbers up in remote communities.
"They've had three years to get out there and start enrolling people from the bush," he said.
"I think it's a failure by the Australian Electoral Commission.
"I see it as a failure, and suggest it's discriminating against Indigenous people that live in the bush, the people that can't vote."
Thousands missing from electoral roll
The AEC said there were around 15,000 people missing from the electoral roll living in the remote NT, but the NLC said its research estimated those figures to be much higher, at around 40,000.
The commission acknowledged remote enrolment remained low but defended the organisation's efforts.
"We've worked hard, we continue to work hard," AEC NT manager Geoff Bloom said.
"Everything we can do at the moment is being done, and the outcomes are not meeting everyone's expectations currently, but certainly, it's moving in the right direction."
Mr Bloom said it was incumbent on organisations like the NLC to help the AEC connect with remote community residents and help push the rates higher.
"We've reached out to the Northern Land Council and others for a long period of time," he said.
Indigenous Electoral Participation Program re-established
The AEC faced cuts to its NT staffing base due to a restructure in 2017.
In 2021, the AEC re-established an Indigenous Electoral Participation Program to try and bolster enrolment rate numbers in the remote NT.
Senior engagement officer, Neville Khan, acknowledged bush enrolment rates were "disappointing" but said his program was "a good opportunity to get things right".
"It's still relatively new, but we've managed to pull a good team together to start building partnerships and relationships with remote communities to increase the enrolments," Mr Khan said.
Mr Bush-Blanasi welcomed the initiative but questioned why it hadn't been resourced and staffed by the AEC prior to 2021.
The AEC and NLC are both rallying people from the remote NT to sign up and have their chance to vote, in a final effort before enrolments close on Monday.
The NLC has released a series of videos with well-known NT personalities such as ABC broadcaster Charlie King and performer Constantina Bush urging remote residents to have their say.
