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Corflutes, the roadside signs which line Canberra's roads in the lead up to an ACT election, should be banned, a parliamentary inquiry into the 2020 poll has recommended.

Early voting should be permanently made available to all electors in the ACT and campaigning be banned on election day, the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety says.

The committee also recommended the reinstatement of a $10,000 cap on political donations "to remove the risk of perception of undue influence of private money in ACT elections".

Public campaign funding should be limited to campaign expenditure, a move which would prevent candidates from profiting from running, the committee said.

The committee made 52 wide-ranging recommendations, including changes to the Electoral Act and campaign donation rules, which the committee said should ban donations from tobacco, liquor and gambling entities and associated industry bodies.

Parties should also be limited to running five candidates in each seat, the inquiry found.

The ACT government should also explore laws that would ban foreign donations to territory campaigns, and report to the Legislative Assembly by March 2022.

Opinion: Corflutes essential in this festival of democracy

The committee recommended the voting age should remain 18, which prompted Greens committee member Jo Clay to produce a dissenting report, recommending lowering the voting age to 16.

"The Committee is concerned that allowing people aged 16 and 17 years to vote on a voluntary basis would gradually erode community support for compulsory voting," the standing committee's report said.

Ms Clay said none of the arguments against lowering the voting age addressed young people's capacity to make significant and long-term decisions, but instead dealt with secondary issues.

"The right to vote is not tied to whether it will increase or decrease political participation. If it were, those who fail to vote at one election would lose their right at future elections. This is clearly not how the right to vote works," Ms Clay's report said.

The Electoral Commission should have its staffing levels and office space increased in line with the increased work of the body in recent years, the committee's report found.

The committee also recommended investigating an online voting system for electors who are overseas at the time of the poll.

A review into the 2016 election stopped short of recommending a ban on corflutes, despite stating there was a widespread degree of dissatisfaction for the signs on Canberra streets.

The ACT Greens have previously called for the electoral signs to be banned, and welcomed the recommendations on Thursday.

Former Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur said before the 2020 campaign the signs caused visual pollution and cluttered public spaces.

"For many Canberrans, roadside electoral signs are supremely annoying, and distracting. Once the election is over, we can only assume that most of these end up going straight into landfill," Ms Le Couteur said.

"If you're driving along and there are dozens of election signs along the roads, it's both annoying and distracting for drivers.

"Many of the signs are largely policy-free - it's not as though they are informative. It's time to get rid of these annoying electoral signs - they're a huge turn off for the community and are a huge waste of plastic."

City Services rangers were pulling down several corflutes less than 72 hours after they were allowed to be put up during the 2020 territory election campaign.

Labor Party campaign director Melissa James said at the time there was plenty of attachment within the party's ranks to traditional corflute campaigning.

"It's interesting - people can get a bit side tracked by it all. Definitely the less time spent worrying about corflutes the better in my view," Ms James said in September.

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The Greens made the conscious decision not to use roadside corflutes in last year's campaign, a move which made some party members nervous it would put candidates at a disadvantage.

"We stuck with it ... but we're glad the absence of corflutes didn't end up being an impediment to winning seats," party leader Shane Rattenbury told The Canberra Times last year.

Corflutes are presently banned from specified roads and areas, including the Parliamentary Triangle, areas near the War Memorial and other land managed by the National Capital Authority.

Corflutes can only be placed in areas under the jurisdiction of the National Capital Authority with special permission.

Areas outside the authority's jurisdiction that are on the list of banned areas include Northbourne Avenue, the Barton Highway, Federal Highway, Adelaide Avenue, Morshead Drive, Kings Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue.

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Jasper Lindell joined the Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine on Saturdays. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.

Jasper Lindell joined the Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine on Saturdays. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.

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