Voting Rights of Expatriates and the Australian Constitution

This article considers the current restrictions on the ability of Australian citizens living overseas to vote in Australian elections. This right will lapse after six years' absence from Australia, with some exceptions. It considers whether such a restriction is constitutionally valid. Elsewhere, the High Court has taken voting rights very seriously, invalidating measures designed to deny the right to vote to prisoners, and to close electoral rolls off early. The High Court has discerned something of an implied right to vote. Arguably, the measure denying the vote to expatriates is vulnerable to constitutional challenge on this basis. Similar schemes have been invalidated elsewhere.