The major political parties have launched a pitch for the votes of thousands of expatriate Australians who could influence the final result in this year's federal election.
The Australian Electoral Commission says over 74,000 votes were cast from overseas at the previous federal election in 2010 and it's expecting similar numbers this time.
The major parties are distributing campaign material to potential voters overseas and say they will have volunteers handing out how to vote cards around the world in the lead up to polling day.
The Australian Electoral Commission is encouraging voters who are likely to be overseas on the date of the federal election to cast a vote through Australian embassies and consulates.
Voters who will be overseas for a short time can fill in an AEC form with details of their electoral division and cast a vote either through the post or through voting centres which will be set up at diplomatic missions.
AEC spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth says the process becomes more complicated for voters who are staying overseas for longer periods.
"If you intend to return to Australia within six years of leaving the country, you can fill in what we call an overseas notification form and that allows you to stay on the Australian Electoral Roll and you can also apply to be a general postal voter whereby we keep your record on file and send you ballot papers when a federal election is called."
A lobby group for Australian expatriates believes it's unfair to only allow people to register as overseas voters if they state an intention to return to Australia within six years.
The Southern Cross Group says this effectively wipes off hundreds of thousands of Australian citizens from the electoral roll, and it's been long been campaigning for the rules to be changed.
Its spokeswoman in Brussels, Anne McGregor, believes Australia is lagging behind a number of other countries in its approach to overseas voters.
"I think in the United Kingdom, you have the right to vote there for up to 15 years after you've left, some of the countries you have to actually physically show up to vote, there are countries who have their expatriates enfranchised forever when they're away, for example, if I was a United States citizen, I have the right to vote under the US constitution and that would never be taken away from me, I could vote from abroad even if I lived abroad for my whole life."
Figures from the 2010 federal election show the largest numbers of overseas votes were cast from London and Hong Kong.
The Australian Electoral Commission says over 16,000 votes were cast from voting centres in London and nearly 8,000 in Hong Kong.
Over 3,000 votes were cast in Singapore and over two-thousand in New York.
Over 1700 votes were also cast at the previous election by Australian Defence personnel based overseas.
Paul Smith is the President of the Australian Labor Party Abroad group, based in London.
He believes there is a great deal of interest in the upcoming election from expatriate Australians around the world.
"We're getting as many people as possible to help out in terms of staffing polling stations around the globe. We'll certainly be having a polling presence at all the major international polling stations around the world. I think people are now looking forward to the fact that we have a very clear choice. It's a choice between the government which has given Australia economic growth while the rest of the world is in recession and people don't want to go to the conservative politics that has failed across Europe and in Britain."
Australian Liberals Abroad is running a similar campaign and says it is focusing a lot of its campaign on the Asia Pacific region, including voting centres in Hong Kong and Jakarta.
The group's President, Jason Groves, believes there is strong interest in the upcoming election, particularly from expatriate business people.
"People have seen the changes in (Labor) leadership over the last few years and they have been dismayed. A large part of Australia and its government have become frankly a little bit of a laughing stock. Australians view that very badly. They want a government that they can be proud of - a government that really plays its part in the international community and I think that's something that I think many Australians living overseas feel has been lacking."
Overseas voters are eligible to vote for both the House of Representatives and the Senate, based upon their nominated Australian home address.
Some of the nation's most marginal seats recorded significant numbers of overseas votes in the last election.
The southern Sydney seat of Banks for example, held by Labor by only 1.5 per cent, had over 1100 overseas votes recorded at the 2010 election.
Labor won that seat by just over 2,000 votes.
And the seat of Brisbane, held by the Liberal National Party by just over one per cent, had over 1,000 overseas votes recorded in the 2010 election.
The LNP won that seat by 1800 votes.
Anne McGregor from the expatriate organisation, the Southern Cross Group, says it is clear that overseas voters could influence the outcome of the federal election.
She is therefore puzzled why the major political parties don't do more to expand their voting rights.
"The overseas electorate has not been a priority of any government although it's interesting because I think if people were allowed to be re-enfranchised in some marginal seats where it comes down to a few hundred votes, it actually might make a difference in some elections."
Paul Smith from Australian Labor Abroad agrees that the current rules are unfair.
He believes Australia should follow the lead of countries like Italy and France and set aside a Senate seat specifically for expatriate voters and not impose rules which restrict their voting rights.
"We think that expatriate Australians are a very important part of our country. They are five per cent of Australian citizens and it's really important that they have a full say in Australia's democracy like they do in a whole range of other countries- from Italy, to France, to Ireland. They all have allocations in their parliament for people who are actually living overseas."
Jason Groves from Australian Liberals Abroad questions the proposal for a dedicated Senate seat for expatriates.
However he agrees with Labor Abroad that some of the current rules are too restrictive.
Mr Groves believes expatriates should not have to indicate they intend to return to Australia within six years in order to vote.
"Australia can demonstrate that it values its expatriate community overseas. A lot of people who work in very senior positions- you go to any country throughout Europe or to the United States or increasingly in Asia- and in the senior ranks of the lot of the top companies, you'll find Australians. They want to be able to be able to maintain that link and I think certainly allowing them to participate in the democratic process to ensure that their voice is heard is a very good way to do that. I certainly think that that's an area where I would encourage the next government to look at and ensure that that voice can be heard."
