Text messages, purportedly sent from Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, have told voters that the Voice to Parliament "is risky, unknown and divisive", and linked to a Liberal Party website collecting data for postal votes.
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Recipients have taken to social media overnight sharing screenshots of the text and questioning how the sender got a hold of their contact details.
"Hi, it's Jacinta Price," the text begins. "The Referendum is on 14 Oct. The Voice is risky unknown and divisive. Don't know? Say no. For a postal vote go to https://postal.vote".
The link sends users to a website authorised by the Liberal Party - rather than the Australian Electoral Commission's official site - and prompts users to provide their contact details to "apply" for a postal vote.
But on the last page of the online form, the website says that users "will be providing this information to the Liberal Party of Australia and the Nationals, who will contact you regarding the referendum", adding that they will now be "redirected to the Australian Electoral Commission website".
A spokesperson for Yes23 - the official "yes" campaign - accused the "no" side of running a campaign that promotes "fear and misinformation".
"We are running a people-powered campaign focused on having genuine face-to-face conversations with Australians through our 37,000 volunteers," the spokesperson said.
"The 'no' side appear to be running a faceless campaign on the ground, focused on promoting fear and misinformation."
The Canberra Times has reached out to Senator Nampijinpa Price for comment. It is unconfirmed at this stage whether or not the texts were sent by her team. Advance - the conservative activist group running the anti-Voice campaign Fair Australia - told this masthead that the text messages were not related to Advance or the Fair Australia campaign.
In response to questions, a Liberal Party spokesperson did not confirm nor deny whether the party was responsible for the texts, but said that it was "encouraging Australians to vote 'no' ".
The spokesperson said the site linked to in the messages "has now been in place across a number of elections and is a very similar platform to those used by the Labor Party", adding that any criticism of it from the Labor Party was hypocrisy.
Campaigning on both sides is heating up, with just four weeks to go before the country heads to the polls to vote on the proposed Voice to Parliament.
One text recipient shared a screenshot of the message on Twitter with the caption "tell Jacinta Price to stop texting me please", before tagging the AEC's official account.
But the AEC replied the commission hadn't been the ones to provide the phone numbers.
"The Referendum Act doesn't prohibit these text message," the AEC wrote.
"We can confirm that your phone number didn't come from the Electoral Roll - we don't provide numbers to political parties or campaigners and have no knowledge of where they get that info..."
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Another Twitter user, who said they will be voting "no" in the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum, said that they thought the texts were a "bad idea".
"The texts from Jacinta Price are a bad idea. I'm voting no and they irritate me. Please stop. They won't convince anyone and they annoy people," the user wrote.
Official postal vote applications opened on Monday and will close on October 11. Users can register for a postal vote via the electoral commission.
Justine Landis-Hanley
I'm a federal politics and public sector reporter at The Canberra Times, with an interest in integrity, regulation, and social services. Contact me with tips and feedback at justine.landishanley@canberratimes.com.au.
I'm a federal politics and public sector reporter at The Canberra Times, with an interest in integrity, regulation, and social services. Contact me with tips and feedback at justine.landishanley@canberratimes.com.au.
