Unsolicited Political Emails: A Security and Privacy Wake-Up Call for Small Business Owners

During election season, it’s not uncommon to be bombarded by campaign material — ads, robocalls, even door-knockers. But one trend that should concern small business owners is the rising use of unsolicited political emails, especially when they arrive in your business inbox without any clear reason for how your address was obtained.

Recently, I received a campaign message from a political candidate — addressed to me as a fellow business owner — with a range of bold economic claims and promises. That’s not unusual during campaign season.

What is unusual, however, is that I never subscribed to this candidate’s mailing list, never opted into any communication, and the email came to an address I’ve only ever used for legitimate business purposes — not for political correspondence.

So, how did they get it?

Let’s unpack this — not from a partisan perspective, but from a privacy, security, and transparency one.

1. Where Did They Get My Email Address?

It’s a reasonable question — and one many small business owners should be asking. If your business contact information is listed on your website, in public registries (like ASIC), or you’ve registered a domain name, it may be accessible through data scraping tools or third-party marketing databases.

But here’s the catch: the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) does not provide voter roll details like email addresses for campaign use — especially not business email addresses. If you’ve never provided that email to a campaign, and you’re still getting targeted political material, it suggests your business data is being harvested or sold without consent.

That’s not just bad practice — it’s potentially unethical, and at odds with community expectations around political transparency.

2. Why It Matters for Small Businesses

Even if you don’t mind political engagement, unsolicited emails from unknown sources raise clear security concerns:

Phishing risks: Political emails, especially during elections, are commonly spoofed. The more normalised they are, the easier it is for a malicious actor to slip in a payload.
Privacy implications: If your contact information is being used without consent, what else is out there? What databases are you listed in?
Spam and inbox hygiene: Repeated campaign emails waste your time, crowd your inbox, and dilute legitimate correspondence.

It’s not about which party sent it — it’s about accountability and informed consent.

3. Election Time Doesn’t Mean the Rules Don’t Apply

Campaigns often walk a fine line when it comes to direct marketing. Under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), political parties are technically exempt from some commercial electronic messaging restrictions — but that doesn’t mean they should ignore ethical boundaries.

Unsolicited communication, vague data sourcing, and one-way campaign messaging erode trust — especially among the small business community who, like everyone else, expect choice and consent.

4. What You Can Do as a Business Owner

If you’re a small business owner, here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself:

Use alias or role-based email addresses for public contact (e.g., enquiries@ rather than timothy@).
Check domain registration settings and use privacy protection where possible.
Set up filtering rules to block unsolicited political emails or send them to a dedicated folder.
Report or unsubscribe, even when it’s a grey area — it sends a signal.

And most importantly: question where the data came from. If you’re receiving unsolicited material, ask the sender directly how your details were obtained.

5. Respect and Transparency Shouldn’t Be Partisan

Whether you support Labor, Liberal, Greens, or anyone else — respect for privacy, data security, and honest communication should be a shared value.

Political engagement is healthy. But data misuse isn’t.

If we accept unsolicited messaging as “just part of the election cycle,” we normalise invasive tactics and undermine the digital trust we all rely on as business owners, operators, and citizens.

Final Thoughts

I won’t name names — that’s not the point. But I do want to reflect on some of the claims made in the email I received, especially as someone running a small business in Australia.

One claim in particular stood out: “that things have never been worse for Australian businesses, and that a handful of tax tweaks would solve it.”.

That doesn’t ring true for me — and I suspect many other small operators would agree.

Yes, it’s been a challenging few years. The lingering effects of the pandemic, inflationary pressures, rising costs, and changing consumer behaviour have all made the landscape tougher. But these aren’t new problems, nor are they the fault of any one government. They’re structural, global, and complicated.

As a business owner, I don’t want grandstanding or selective statistics. I want real, practical support — things like:

Reliable digital infrastructure
Transparent tax policy
Investment in cyber security and data protection
Sensible, long-term economic planning — not election-cycle gimmicks

When I read campaign material offering a $20,000 deduction for business lunches, I can’t help but ask: who is this really for? That doesn’t speak to sole traders like me, tradies, local cafés, or service-based businesses working on tight margins. It speaks to those already playing a very different game (i.e. big business).

And when I’m told my business is supposedly drowning in “red tape,” I have to wonder — which red tape? Because the biggest time drains I deal with often come from regulatory confusion, not protection.

Stripping back worker protections or simplifying reporting may help a few big players — but they don’t solve the root problems for the rest of us smaller operators.

So no, it’s not “the worst time ever” for Australian business. It’s just a complex time, and simplistic slogans won’t fix that.

In closing, the inbox should be a space for opportunity, collaboration, and clarity — not an unregulated billboard for political point-scoring. Let’s raise the bar.