Although the Electronic Transactions Act (Cth) has been in place since 1999 it has taken a political activist group to highlight its potential use. The Act is designed to encourage technological neutrality in transactions.

In Getup Ltd v Electoral Commissioner [2010] FCA 869 the Federal Court declared that an online voting enrolment using a signature generated by a digital pen was in order for entry on the roll of electors. The form otherwise met all statutory requirements.

Although the Australian Electoral Commission had accepted faxed copies of enrolment forms and scanned copies of forms sent by email it had refused to accept a form generated by GetUp’s ozenrol site.

The ozenrol site generated a claim form for enrolment in accordance with the statutory requirements, completed the relevant details, applied the signature generated using the signature tool and then generated a document in PDF format. That PDF document was then emailed to a third party provider UTBox which provides an online fax service. It then faxed the enrolment form to the relevant office of the Commissioner.

The Court declared that the signature satisfied section 10 of the Electronic Transactions Act and should be accepted.

ABC News