Skip to contentInformation for people with disabilityInformation on accessibility
Australian Electoral Commission
The AEC today became aware of campaign signage outside of at least one early voting centre for the 2023 referendum that could potentially mislead voters about the source of a campaign message.
To be absolutely clear - the signs were erected by the Yes23 campaign, not the AEC. The signs featured the legislatively required authorisation statement. However, the signage prominently used white writing against a background that is a similar shade of purple to the AEC’s longstanding branding and were erected outside at least one early voting centre, in close proximity to the AEC’s ‘voting centre’ signage.
This combination of using purple and white colours in proximity to AEC signage could mislead a voter about the source of the signage, and by extension, the source of the message on the signage. Accordingly, when we were alerted to this signage the AEC requested the Yes23 campaign to rectify the situation by ensuring their signs are not placed in the proximity of AEC voting centre signs. The Yes23 campaign has agreed to comply with this request.
While the AEC has been clear over a number of years in communicating our preference that campaigners do not use the combination of colours purple and white in such a way that could be misleading, the AEC does not have any legal authority to prevent people from using particular colours. The AEC also does not have the legal authority – except in very limited circumstances - to prevent people from campaigning outside six metres from the entrance to a polling place. While AEC officers cannot remove signage that could be misleading regarding the source of the message, we expect our request to the authoriser of the signage to be complied with.
Requests from the AEC to campaigners to adjust or rectify concerns regarding signage outside of voting centres occurs frequently at every electoral event. The AEC’s experience is that, in the vast majority of cases, the authoriser of the signage complies with an AEC request.
The AEC acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.