Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Protecting Elector Participation) Bill 2012 was introduced to the Parliament by Special Minister of State Gary Gray.
“It is, without doubt, one of the most significant reforms proposed since the introduction of compulsory enrolment in this country 100 years ago,” Special Minister of State Gary Gray said.
Minister Gray commented that the bill gave the Australian Electoral Commission the ability to directly enrol eligible people to vote.
Minister Gray pointed out that currently 1.5 million people are not enrolled to vote which turns out to be an average of 10,000 per electorate.

The new bill will allow:
• Allows the Electoral Commissioner to directly enrol a person if the Commissioner is satisfied that the person is:

o entitled to enrolment;
o has lived at an address for at least one month; and
o the person is not currently enrolled.

• If the Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that a person meets these criteria, the Commissioner gives the person written notice it is proposed to enrol the person, who has 28 days to respond if they do not live at that address or are not entitled to enrolment. A review is available by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.