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Any member of the media (including camera crews and photographers) wanting to take footage of voting or counting at a polling place (including an early voting centre or accompanying a mobile polling team) must obtain the prior permission of the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).  

The AEC’s permission must be sought by contacting the relevant AEC Media Liaison Officer in the State/Territory in which access is sought.  The Media Liaison Officer will discuss your requirements, including if there is a particular division or polling place that you wish to cover. 

To ensure the efficient conduct of both the voting and counting (scrutiny), permission granted by the AEC is conditional on the media complying with the following rules at the polling place. 

1. The operation of the polling place must be allowed to continue without disruption or any inconvenience to electors or polling officials.

2. At all times, the media (including any accompanying film crew) will be under the direction of the Officer in Charge of the particular polling place.  On arrival the media are asked to announce their arrival to the Officer in Charge and to reconfirm their requirements.

3. Any filming of electors voting must ensure that the actual vote of any elector is not able to be identified.

4. The media must not touch any ballot papers or interfere with the operation of the voting or the count.  Particular scenes or results cannot be ‘recreated’ for better effect. Ballot papers and other AEC materials must not be removed from the polling place.

5. The rights of electors and other members of the public in the polling place who do not want to be filmed must be respected.

6. The rights of scrutineers (candidate representatives) who will want to observe the count closely, must be respected. As they stand behind polling officials to observe the count, they may not want to move so that a better shot of the scrutiny can be obtained.
   
7. The media may film aspects of the voting (i.e. before 6pm) and the scrutiny (i.e. after 6pm). A live cross by the reporter back to the studio or National Tally Room from the polling place may also be filmed.

Please note, if the above rules are not complied with, the Officer in Charge will ask the media to leave the polling place.

AEC Media Liaison Officers

Please contact the AEC media liaison officer in your state or territory to request access to a polling place:

New South Wales Peita Mamo Media Liaison Officer Ph. (02) 9375 6313	South Australia Paul Langtry Media Liaison Officer Ph. (08) 8237 6582
Victoria Nick Toce Media Liaison Officer Ph. (03) 9285 7113	Tasmania Michael Horwood Media Liaison Officer Ph. (03) 6235 0509
Queensland Tim Scott Media Liaison Officer Ph. (07) 3834 3428	Northern Territory Annie Cowley Media Liaison Officer Ph. (08) 8982 8005
Western Australia Rosie O’Hare Media Liaison Officer Ph. (08) 6363 8026	Australian Capital Territory Sasha Nimmo Media Liaison Officer Ph. (02) 6271 4419
National Phil Diak Director Media and Communication Strategy Ph. (02) 6271 4415   Mobile. 0413 452 539