Voting for the 2019 Federal election opens (if one wishes to do it in person) on Monday 29 April at 0830 hours at early voting centres dotted around Australia.
Contrary to the heading, one should only vote once.
A good option to avoid the hassle of queuing is to obtain a postal vote.
However some travelling overseas very soon (and who haven't arranged a postal vote) may wish to visit an early voting centre (EVC).
The Australian Electoral Commission doesn't appear to have uploaded a searchable map.
However by inputting a place name or postcode, one can find EVCs closest to these.
Strangely as far as I can see, there is no early voting centre at Sydney or Melbourne airports. I don't know whether this is because of lack of space (given prospective large numbers of voters) or the airports in their usual way proving difficult. That they hold 99 year or whatever leases granted to them by a previous Federal government doesn't seem to make much difference - ask any retailer.
This contrasts with the Victorian State election in November 2018 when there was an EVC at MEL.
For the Federal election, there is one at the ground floor of Sydney Central (Terminal) railway station, in what was when it was trading the rather dismal road coach terminal. It's near the escalators on that northwest station end (corner of Eddy Avenue). This could be very handy for the many who travel by train to SYD.
The closest one I could find to MEL was in Gladstone Park, which for anyone such as serfty who uses the 901 PTV bus route from Broadmeadows railway station is on the bus route.
Helpfully these EVCs are open on one Saturday prior to 18 May, the official election date.
These opening times below are typical, at least for metropolitan EVCs, as advised through
www.aec.gov.au :
Central Railway Station Eddy Ave Ground Floor Former Coach Terminal
- Assisted wheelchair access
- Opening times
- Monday 29 April – Friday 3 May (8:30 –17:30)
- Monday 6 May – Thursday 9 May (8:30 –17:30)
- Friday 10 May (8:30 –18:00)
- Saturday 11 May (9:00 –16:00)
- Monday 13 May – Tuesday 14 May (8:30 –17:30)
- Wednesday 15 May (8:30 –18:00)
- Thursday 16 May (8:30 –17:30)
- Friday 17 May (8:30 –18:00)
One can also vote overseas at Australian Embassies and High Commissions. The exception is Colombo, Sri Lanka where one will not operate due to the recent Muslim terrorist attacks on Catholic Churches, a Christian Church and hotels:
Overseas voting centres
The couple of overseas voting centres I checked do not commence operation until 6 May 2019, later than the ones in Oz. I assume this is standard for each one.
The AEC website is a bit clunky, so I've endeavoured to show links above. Perhaps QF or VA lent the AEC some schoolchildren on work experience.