Voter identification laws proposed by the Morrison government have been dropped ahead of the 2022 federal election.
The government had hoped to pass the laws in the dying days of this year's parliamentary calendar.
However, after significant community backlash and a lack of crossbench support, the Bill was scrapped.
The laws would require Australians to present a form of identification when voting, and have been described as an unnecessary hindrance to democracy that would disproportionately affect some voters, including First Nations people.
With patchy support for the Bill in the Senate, Independent senator Jacqui Lambie sounded its death knell when she announced her opposition.
"Do the benefits outweigh the risks? No, no way, not even close," she told the Senate.
Labor, the Greens and Independent Rex Patrick also did not support the proposed laws, with One Nation siding with the government.
The Central Land Council spoke out against the Bill when it was proposed, with the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Labor's Linda Burney slamming them as "discriminatory."
"It will have terrible effects for certain populations," the Wiradjuri woman said.
"Many First Nations people actually don't have a birth certificate... If you don't have a birth certificate then it's very hard to get other forms of identification."
The laws were proposed as a 'solution' to the problem of voter fraud. However data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows the issue is near non-existent.
In a Senate estimates hearing last month, the Australian electoral commissioner Tom Rogers said that “evidence of multiple voting to date is vanishingly small".
