Voting for all levels of government - federal, state and municipal - is compulsory. There has been much debate over making it voluntary, but so far things have not changed.
The Australian Electoral Commission has published arguments for and against compulsory voting (https://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/voting/index.htm):
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For:
- Voting is a civic duty comparable to other duties citizens perform e.g. taxation, compulsory education, jury duty
- Teaches the benefits of political participation
- Parliament reflects more accurately the "will of the electorate"
- Governments must consider the total electorate in policy formulation and management
- Candidates can concentrate their campaigning energies on issues rather than encouraging voters to attend the poll
- The voter isn't actually compelled to vote for anyone because voting is by secret ballot.
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Against:
- It is undemocratic to force people to vote – an infringement of liberty
- The ill informed and those with little interest in politics are forced to the polls
- It may increase the number of "donkey votes"
- It may increase the number of informal votes
- It increases the number of safe, single-member electorates – political parties then concentrate on the more marginal electorates
- Resources must be allocated to determine whether those who failed to vote have "valid and sufficient" reasons.
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