Free people search in Australia. (AEC method).

Some readers will be aware that one of my ‘hats’ is that of Private Investigator. I don’t do a lot of Private Detective work these days, however one of my specialties is that of people search.

This article is about a way that people can conduct free people searches in Australia.

Anyway, back to the article about free people search Australia.

Here in Australia, authorities have tightened up on what information is available publicly, and to Private Investigators. Things have been scaled back heavily and Privacy Laws have been tightened. As an industry insider I can comment authoritatively that as a result of these actions by the government bureaucrats, life is now much easier if you are a criminal, terrorist, con man, delinquent debtor and so on. Even the Police are having greater difficulties. Droves of Private Investigators have left the industry due to the new laws. Costs to society have risen as businesses pass their increased costs and losses on to consumers.

All that said, there are still a few excellent resources left that people use to assist in the location of people. I will be telling you about one of them in this article and quite frankly, its existence seems in my view to run contrary to the general privacy fetish that pervades our society today.

Here in Australia it is compulsory to enroll to vote.

Enrollment is on what we call the Electoral Roll.

All eligible people aged 18 or over are required by law to be on the Australian Electoral Roll, and to vote. Not everyone is enrolled of course and some people have applied to have their addresses suppressed. Electors who believe that having their address shown on the publicly available electoral roll could put their personal safety, or their family’s safety, at risk, can apply for silent elector status. My cousin (by marriage) for example is Paul De Jersey, Chief Justice of Queensland and his address is suppressed on the Electoral Roll for security reasons. There are a variety of other reasons why people can have their address suppressed and further details are available here, however being a con man or similar is not sufficient grounds – applications are vetted carefully.

The Australian Electoral Roll is public information. I doubt that an official intended use is as a people search tool, however lots of people – the public, business people, Private Investigators, Lawyers, debt collectors and so on use it for that purpose. Quite frankly, some people might say that the Australian Electoral Roll is actually something which in its current form facilitates an ‘invasion of privacy’. Others might say that it is a valuable tool for finding lost relatives, old friends, debtors, con men, criminals or others who want to avoid their responsibilities.

The Australian Electoral Roll is administered by the Australian Electoral Commission. (AEC).

Apart from the online Enrolment Verification Facility, which is sometimes misused by people who know enough about the particular subject of their inquiry, there is no publicly available online method of checking the Australian Electoral Roll. The AEC do not provide information on electors by telephone or post.

The Australian Electoral Commission maintains a number of publicly accessible offices in towns and cities across Australia which contain public terminals for viewing the Australian Electoral Roll. No checks are carried out on people using the terminals – anyone can just walk in off the street and start looking up details. Searches can be made by last name (surname) on a state by state basis so search power is limited, however as I am sure you can imagine, it is a very useful tool for some people.

I have heard of cases where people overseas, perhaps with limited financial resources, have asked friends on social networking sites to pop into their local AEC office and run a quick search. Considering that some Private Investigators will charge large fees for information they found on the Australian Electoral Roll I can understand the incentive to get friends to do it if one is overseas, or do it yourself if near an AEC office.

And by the way, beware of Private Investigator people search websites which claim they can find anyone. They can’t.

Disclaimer:

These views are my own. I have not been paid to write this article.

This article is not endorsed, sponsored, guaranteed, adopted, confirmed or approved by the AEC.

I have provided it free of charge partly in the public interest from both sides of the fence – for those to whom privacy is paramount and who object to any of the Australian Electoral Roll data being publicly available, and for those to whom free and unfettered access to information is important.

Late last year I created a new website called Free People Search. The website is nothing fancy, currently just a one page affair with some links on it. As time and my other projects allow, I will add more links and blog articles, however I only plan to add links to worthwhile content and services. Quality is more important than quantity. Because of my people search industry experience I have key insights as to what is good and have a number of other links to add, so please check the people search website again in future.

Getting back in touch with people can be very important and if I can help in some way with my Free People Search website then it has been worthwhile.

If you have any good suggestions of free people search resources then please do let me know so that I can consider them for possible inclusion on my Free People Search website. Thank you. ;-))

Check out other articles on people search, including how I found a dead person in three places!

PS: If anyone is wondering how I built my Free People Search website I used the website design software on this page. It is great for one page websites, as well as sites with 100′s of pages.

Related posts:

1. Barmy privacy laws hinder Police yet do little for real privacy.
2. Job search better than other people.
3. Google search – the problem.
4. Australia Day 2010 – The Great Australian Internet Blackout
5. New methods of job search – continued.