As the federal election campaign ramps up around the country, voters can expect more texts from political parties.
Australian law gives special rights to political parties to get around anti-spam rules.
Their access to a phone number directory doesn’t come from an official source, but instead is often randomly generated.
Here’s why you might get a text from a political party or candidate ahead of the 3 May election.
Text messages
In the lead-up to previous federal elections, there have been a number of instances of politicians sending out bulk text messages to voters.
Former United Australia Party (UAP) MP Craig Kelly sent out mass text messages before the 2022 election.
There were also mass texts sent during the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023, urging people to either vote yes or no on the proposal.
Is it legal?
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Yes.
Australia has rules that mean telemarketing companies must have a person’s consent when making calls, and offer people a way to opt out of messages and calls.
However, electoral laws exempt political parties from these rules.
This is the case even if you have applied to the ‘No Call Register’, a list to hide your number from telemarketers.
Source
Under the law, political parties can also access the electoral roll, which features the names and addresses of people in the states and territories.
However, the AEC said phone numbers are not gathered as part of the electoral roll, so politicians can’t be sourcing information from there.
Instead, political campaigns often maintain databases with contact information. Campaigners also often claim to use random phone number generators, to reach people whose details they do not have.
