A young, fresh-faced Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Queensland Premier Anna Palaszczuk starred in a photo distributed by the Labor campaign on Monday to encourage young people to enrol before the polls close on Monday night.

Mr Shorten posted the photo, which also featured former Tourism and Transport Forum managing director Chris Brown, to Facebook on Monday afternoon.

"A lot has changed over the years, but one thing hasn't – you still need to enrol in order to have your say," he said, before spruiking his party's electoral credentials.

A spokesman for Mr Shorten said the photo was taken when the trio were in Young Labor together and was taken in the late 1980s.

Comment has been sought from Ms Palaszczuk.

With young voters traditionally voting in a higher proportion for left-of-centre progressive parties, the Labor Party has been making a concerted effort to get them to the polls.

Former treasurer Wayne Swan, the member of the north Brisbane suburb of Lilley, last month posted his own appeal, which featured a particularly hairy looking University of Queensland ID.

A day earlier, Labor's deputy leader and foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek posted a similar throw-back to encourage young would-be voters to enrol.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, just 51.4 per cent of eligible 18-year-olds were enrolled to vote.

Young Queenslanders appeared to be the most engaged of any state, with 59.6 per cent of eligible 18-year-olds in the state on the electoral rolls.

They were followed by Victoria (51.8 per cent), New South Wales (49.9 per cent), South Australia and Tasmania (both 49 per cent) and Western Australia (41 per cent).

The territories told two very different stories.

In the ACT, 72.5 per cent of 18-year-olds were enrolled to vote, compared with just 24.2 per cent in the Northern Territory.

An AEC spokeswoman said the commission was "concerned" about the current enrolment rates of young Australians, "especially the newest cohort of Australians entitled to vote in their first federal election".

"The AEC is concerned that there are about one in two 18-year-old Australians on the roll, or about 130,000 missing," she said.

"Three in four 19-year-olds are on the roll, which is better, but still indicates that a substantial number of 19-year-olds must act now before the close of rolls deadline.

"Of those across the 18-24 age group, 81.9 per cent, or four in five, are on the electoral roll."

Would-be voters have until 8pm AEST on Monday (May 23) to enrol for the 2016 federal election via the AEC website.