STREWTH: Could Pommies Living In ‘Straya Swing The Brexit Vote?

The United Kingdom will vote on whether they will remain in the European Union on June 23 – which is very, very soon. Like… tomorrow-ish. It’s a massive decision that’ll no doubt send shockwaves throughout Europe and the world. If you’re not up on what it looks like – or what the hell a Brexit even is – we did a handy lil explainer for ya.

Regardless of who wins (and nobody has a clear idea of who will) it’s probably gonna be a really tight race. Now, the BBC has published an article asking a kinda interesting question: will Brit expats in Australia help swing it one way or another?
Anyone with a British passport is eligible to vote, and there are 1.2 million such people here in Oz. The Leave and Remain camps see the potential here: they’re reportedly campaigning in areas with heavy British populations (like Perth, where up to 15% of the population was born in the UK).
The vote is optional, so the attention has been around just getting people to mail in a vote. Guardian cartoonist David Squires, who is British but lives in Australia, told the BBC that many expats have discussed being involved in the vote, but the timing isn’t great.

“I’m just overloaded trying to work out the issues and the timing is woeful – the vote comes right after Eurovision, just before the Australian general election – and with all the noise of the US election too,” he said.
There are approximately 250,000 British passport holders in New Zealand too. Not bad for a bunch of colonials.
Source: BBC.
Photo: Getty Images.

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