The 1967 Australian referendum occurred on 27 May 1967 under the Holt government. It contained three topics asked about in two questions, regarding the passage of two bills to alter the Australian Constitution.[1]
The first question (Constitution Alteration (Parliament) Bill 1967) sought to increase the number of Members in the House of Representatives.[1] The second question (Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) Bill 1967) related to Indigenous Australians (referred to as "the Aboriginal Race") and was in two parts: whether to give the Federal Government the power to make laws for Indigenous Australians in states, and whether in population counts for constitutional purposes to include all Indigenous Australians.[1][2][3]
Question | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | States in favour | Voters in favour | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(25) Parliament | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | 1:5 | 40% | Not carried |
(26) Aboriginal people | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6:0 | 91% | Carried |
Results in detail
Parliament
- This section is an excerpt from 1967 Australian referendum (Parliament) § Results
State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | For | Against | Informal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vote | % | Vote | % | |||||
New South Wales | 2,315,828 | 2,166,507 | 1,087,694 | 51.01 | 1,044,458 | 48.99 | 34,355 | |
Victoria | 1,734,476 | 1,630,594 | 496,826 | 30.87 | 1,112,506 | 69.13 | 21,262 | |
Queensland | 904,808 | 848,728 | 370,200 | 44.13 | 468,673 | 55.87 | 9,855 | |
South Australia | 590,275 | 560,844 | 186,344 | 33.91 | 363,120 | 66.09 | 11,380 | |
Western Australia | 437,609 | 405,666 | 114,841 | 29.05 | 280,523 | 70.95 | 10,302 | |
Tasmania | 199,589 | 189,245 | 42,764 | 23.06 | 142,660 | 76.94 | 3,821 | |
Total for Commonwealth | 6,182,585 | 5,801,584 | 2,298,669 | 40.25 | 3,411,940 | 59.75 | 90,975 | |
Results | Obtained majority in one state and an overall minority of 1,113,271 votes. Not carried |
Aboriginal people
- This section is an excerpt from 1967 Australian referendum (Aboriginals) § Results
State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | For | Against | Informal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vote | % | Vote | % | |||||
New South Wales | 2,315,828 | 2,166,507 | 1,949,036 | 91.46 | 182,010 | 8.54 | 35,461 | |
Victoria | 1,734,476 | 1,630,594 | 1,525,026 | 94.68 | 85,611 | 5.32 | 19,957 | |
Queensland | 904,808 | 848,728 | 748,612 | 89.21 | 90,587 | 10.79 | 9,529 | |
South Australia | 590,275 | 560,844 | 473,440 | 86.26 | 75,383 | 13.74 | 12,021 | |
Western Australia | 437,609 | 405,666 | 319,823 | 80.95 | 75,282 | 19.05 | 10,561 | |
Tasmania | 199,589 | 189,245 | 167,176 | 90.21 | 18,134 | 9.79 | 3,935 | |
Total for Commonwealth | 6,182,585 | 5,801,584 | 5,183,113 | 90.77 | 527,007 | 9.23 | 91,464 | |
Results | Obtained majority in all six states and an overall majority of 4,656,106 votes. Carried |
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Constitution Alteration (Parliament) 1967 and Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967 Referendums: The Arguments For and Against the Proposed Alterations Together with a Statement Showing the Proposed Alterations". Commonwealth of Australia. 1967. Retrieved 15 August 2020 – via Austlii.
- ^ Arcioni, Elisa (1 September 2012). "Excluding Indigenous Australians from 'The People': A Reconsideration of Sections 25 and 127 of the Constitution". Federal Law Review. 40 (3): 287–315. doi:10.22145/flr.40.3.1. S2CID 210774854. (2012) 40(3) Federal Law Review 287. ISSN 1444-6928. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ Thomas, Matthew (25 May 2017). "The 1967 Referendum". Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ a b c Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.
Further reading
- Select sources on constitutional change in Australia 1901-1997. Part 2 - History of Australian Referendums (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. 24 March 1997. ISBN 0644484101.
- Bennett, Scott (2003). "Research Paper no. 11 2002–03: The Politics of Constitutional Amendment". Canberra: Parliamentary Library of Australia..
- Australian Electoral Commission (2007) Referendum Dates and Results 1906 – Present AEC, Canberra.