Scotland's first minister revealed he would back the Australian model where people can be fined if they fail to vote

Alex Salmond has said he supports the "heresy" of compulsory voting at elections, similar to the Australian model where residents who fail to vote can be fined. The first minister of Scotland said people who didn't want to vote for any of the candidates would be perfectly entitled to write "none of these clowns" on the ballot paper.

Speaking at a Scottish referendum event at Dundee university, the Scottish National party leader was asked whether he supported compulsory voting after the recent European elections: turnout in Scotland was 33.5%.

"I don't think it will happen, but it's one of my heresies that I like the idea of compulsory voting," he said during a question and answer session in the university's 5 Million Questions series on the referendum. "I think there's a lot to be said for it."

He admitted few of his colleagues supported the policy. "I raised this with colleagues but I didn't get very far. I don't think it will ever get introduced because it's against accepted political culture. But I don't think the Australians are wrong on this."

Under the Australian system, all voters are legally required to register and cast a vote in federal elections, byelections or referendums, or face a A$20 (£11) fine or up to A$170 if the case goes to court.

Salmond said he did not believe compulsory voting would be needed in the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September, because many polls suggested the turnout will be at least 80%.

He said voting rates could be boosted with less controversial measures, including voter education and involving more under 18s. The Scottish referendum will give 124,000 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland the vote for the first time.

Salmond also admitted he had been unwise to be seen to praise Russian president Vladimir Putin for restoring Russian national pride and praising aspects of his leadership in an interview with the former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell in March for GQ magazine.

He told David Torrance, his biographer, that "I should've maybe been more careful in my language" in the interview with Campbell, but insisted his critics had deliberately misrepresented what he had said.