Suffrage in Australia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Suffrage in Australia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Suffrage in Australia is the voting rights in the Commonwealth of Australia, its six component states (before 1901 called colonies) and territories, and local governments. The colonies of Australia began to grant universal male suffrage from 1856, with women's suffrage on equal terms following between the 1890s and 1900s. Some jurisdictions introduced racial restrictions on voting from 1885, and by 1902 most Australian residents who were not of European descent were explicitly or effectively excluded from voting and standing for office, including at the Federal level. Such restrictions had been removed by 1966. Today, the right to vote at all levels of government is held by citizens of Australia over the age of 18 years, excluding some prisoners and people "of unsound mind".