Announcement of 1967 referendum results in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette

Notice of the results of the 1967 referendum.

Transcript

[Small bold header:] [3403]

[Image of the coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Australia.]

[Main heading in large gothic font:] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette

[Subheading:] PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 55 CANBERRA, MONDAY, 26 JUNE 1967[.]

[Dividing line.]

[The page is divided into two columns. Left column.]

[Bold text:] Commonwealth of Australia

[Heading:] STATEMENT SHOWING RESULT OF REFERENDUM UPON PROPOSED LAW TO ALTER THE CONSTITUTION WITH RESPECT TO PARLIAMENT[.]

WHEREAS in pursuance of the Writ issued by the Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia on the twenty-eighth day of April, 1967 to me, a proposed law to alter the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Parliament) 1967" was, on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1967, submitted according to law in each State to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives: And whereas in pursuance of the Referendum (Constitution Alteration) Act 1906-1966 a statement of the voting on the submission (in the said Act referred to as the Referendum) has been indorsed on the said Writ: And whereas by the said Act it is enacted that the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish a copy of the said statement in the Gazette, and that the statement so published shall, subject to the said Act, be conclusive evidence of the result of the Referendum: Now therefore I do hereby certify that the statement hereunder set out is a true copy of the statement indorsed on the said Writ, and do publish the statement in the Gazette in pursuance of the said Act.

F. L. LEY

Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth

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[Subheading:] STATEMENT INDORSED ON THE WRIT ABOVE REFERRED TO

I certify that in pursuance of the within Writ a proposed law to alter the provisions of the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Parliament) 1967", was submitted to the electors in each State of the Commonwealth on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1967, and that the result of the voting as regards each State and as regards the Commonwealth was as follows:

[The following information is presented in table format at the base of the left column. The table has 4 columns and 8 rows. The headings of the 4 columns are, respectively: '1. State. 2. Number of Votes give IN FAVOUR of the Proposed Law. 3. Number of Votes given NOT IN FAVOUR of the Proposed Law. And 4. Number of Ballot-papers rejected as INFORMAL.'. The data presented in the rows is shown below, with a full stop between the information of each column.]

New South Wales[. Votes in favour:] 1,087,694[.] [Not in favour:] 1,044,458[.] [Informal:] 34,355[.]

Victoria[. Votes in favour:] 496,826[. Not in favour:] 1,112,506[. Informal:] 21,262[.]

Queensland[. Votes in favour:] 370,200[. Not in favour:] 468,673[. Informal:] 9,855[.]

South Australia[. Votes in favour:] 186,344[. Not in favour:] 363,120[. Informal:] 11,380[.]

Western Australia[. Votes in favour:] 114,841[. Not in favour:] 280,523[. Informal:] 10,302[.]

Tasmania[. Votes in favour:] 42,764[. Not in favour:] 142,660[. Informal:] 3,821[.]

Totals for the Commonwealth[. Votes in favour:] 2,298,669[. Not in favour:] 3,411,940[. Informal:] 90,975[.]

[End of table.]

Dated this twenty-second day of June, 1967.

F. L. LEY

Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth[.]

[Right column.]

[Bold text:] Commonwealth of Australia[.]

[Heading:] STATEMENT SHOWING RESULT OF REFERENDUM UPON PROPOSED LAW TO ALTER THE CONSTITUTION WITH RESPECT TO ABORIGINALS[.]

WHEREAS in pursuance of the Writ issued by the Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia on the twenty-eighth day of April, 1967 to me, a proposed law to alter the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967" was, on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1967, submitted according to law in each State to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives: And whereas in pursuance of the Referendum (Constitution Alteration) Act 1906-1966 a statement of the voting on the submission (in the said Act referred to as the Referendum) has been indorsed on the said Writ: And whereas by the said Act it is enacted that the Chief Electoral Officer shall publish a copy of the said statement in the Gazette, and that the statement so published shall, subject to the said Act, be conclusive evidence of the result of the Referendum: Now therefore I do hereby certify that the statement hereunder set out is a true copy of the statement indorsed on the said Writ, and do publish the statement in the Gazette in pursuance of the said Act.

F. L. LEY

Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth

[Dividing line.]

[Subheading:] STATEMENT INDORSED ON THE WRIT ABOVE REFERRED TO

I certify that in pursuance of the within Writ a proposed law to alter the provisions of the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967", was submitted to the electors in each State of the Commonwealth on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1967, and that the result of the voting as regards each State and as regards the Commonwealth was as follows:

[The following information is presented in table format at the base of the right column. The table has 4 columns and 8 rows. The headings of the 4 columns are, respectively: '1. State. 2. Number of Votes give IN FAVOUR of the Proposed Law. 3. Number of Votes given NOT IN FAVOUR of the Proposed Law. And 4. Number of Ballot-papers rejected as INFORMAL.''. The data presented in the rows is shown below, with a full stop between the information of each column.]

New South Wales[. Votes in favour:] 1,949,036[. Not in favour:] 182,010[. Informal:] 35,461[.]

Victoria[. Votes in favour:] 1,525,026[. Not in favour:] 85,611[. Informal:] 19,957[.]

Queensland[. Votes in favour:] 748,612[. Not in favour:] 90,587[. Informal:] 9,529[.]

South Australia[. Votes in favour:] 473,440[. Not in favour:] 75,383[. Informal:] 12,021[.]

Western Australia[. Votes in favour:] 319,823[. Not in favour:] 75,282[. Informal:] 10,561[.]

Tasmania[. Votes in favour:] 167,176[. Not in favour:] 18,134[. Informal:] 3,935[.]

Totals for the Commonwealth[. Votes in favour:] 5,183,113[. Not in favour:] 527,007[. Informal:] 91,464[.]

[End of table.]

Dated this twenty-second day of June, 1967.

F. L. LEY

Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth[.]

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[Footer:]

[In italics:] Registered at the General Post Office, Melbourne, for transmission by post as a

By Authority: A. J. ARTHUR, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra

8719/67—PRICE 5c (plus postage)

About this record

This record is a copy of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette published on 26 of June 1967. The Gazette is published by the Prime Minister's Department and provides information about what is happening in the Australian Government. This includes publishing the results of federal elections and referendums.

This issue of the Gazette announces the results of the two questions put to Australian voters in the 1967 referendum.

The first question, known as the 'nexus question', related to Section 24 of the Australian Constitution. The referendum proposed that the Australian Constitution be altered to increase the number of members of the House of Representatives without necessarily increasing the number of Senators.

The second question proposed alterations to sections 51 (xxvi) and 127 of the Australian Constitution 'to omit certain words relating to the People of the Aboriginal Race in any State and so that Aboriginals are to be counted in reckoning the population'.

For either of the above questions to be passed, a double majority of votes was required. A double majority means that a majority of voters in most states vote yes and a majority of voters nationwide vote yes.

The results of the nexus question can be seen in the left-hand column of the document. These results show that the alteration did not pass. This question received a nation-wide vote of only 40.25%. Moreover, the majority of people in only one state, New South Wales, were in favour of the proposed changes. There was a strong 'No' campaign relating to the nexus question in the lead up to the referendum.

The results of the second question can be seen in the right-hand column of the document. The results show the highest 'Yes' vote ever recorded in an Australian referendum. 90.77% of voters nation-wide voted yes, and a majority of people in all six states were in favour of the changes. Unlike the nexus question, there was only a 'Yes' campaign for this question, because all parliamentarians supported it.

In 1967, residents of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory did not vote in the referendum. This is because they were excluded from voting in referendums by the Constitution. This meant that 22,000 First Nations people living in the Northern Territory at the time did not get a chance to have a say, even though the second question was about Aboriginal people.

An amendment was made to the Constitution in 1977 to allow voters from the territories to vote in referendums. This means that territory votes are now counted in the national average when calculating referendum results. When determining whether a double majority has been achieved – that is, whether a majority of voters in most states have voted 'Yes' – territory votes are not counted.

Food for thought

Since Federation, Australians have voted in 44 referendums– and only 8 have been successful. Why do you think the majority of referendums have failed in Australia? What are the advantages and disadvantages of constitutional change being difficult to achieve?

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