Approval in a referendum is necessary in order to amend the Australian constitution. A bill must first be passed by both houses of parliament or, in certain limited circumstances, by only one house of parliament. The Governor General must then decide whether or not to submit the referendum to the people (this is done on the advice of the Prime Minister). If approved, it is then submitted to a referendum.

In order to pass a referendum, the bill must achieve a double majority: a majority of those voting throughout the country, as well as separate majorities in each of a majority of states (4 of 6). Prior to the 1977 referendum residents within Australia's territories did not vote at referendums, however since this date residents of territories are counted, but only towards the national total and are not counted against any of the states.

When a referendum question is carried, it is presented for the Royal Assent, given in the Queen's name by the Governor-General.

Similar to a referendum is a plebiscite which is conducted by the government to determine a matter relating to statute law rather than the constitution. Plebiscites can offer a variety of options, rather than a simple yes/no question. Three plebiscites have occurred in the past.

In 1996 the Howard government passed the Flags Act , which requires a referendum to change the Flag of Australia. There is some debate over constitutional validity of this legislation, since it involves Parliament acting to bind its own legislative power.

The No vote

Australians have in most instances voted No to referendum questions: only 8 out of 43 referendums since 1909 have been carried. In Sir Robert Menzies' words, "to get an affirmative vote from the Australian people on a referendum proposal is one of the labours of Hercules".

Many attribute this to the difficulty of getting the double majority necessary for a referendum to be approved. There have been five instances, in 1937, twice in 1946, 1977 and 1984, where a national Yes vote has been overridden by failing to win a majority of states. In three of these instances, the referendum would have been passed if the requirement was for a majority, plus at least three out of six states agreeing. The converse situation, where there is a majority of states but not a majority of the population, has not occurred. The explanation for this is that the unequal population distribution among the states makes this statistically difficult to achieve.

A contributing factor to the predominance of the No vote likely comes from the unwillingness of the public to extend the powers of government. The majority of the referendum questions involved granting additional powers over commerce and industry to the government, and in no referendum were these questions carried.

Another factor could be that many of the referendum questions were repeats of questions that been rejected before, or were only slightly modified. With the exception of the 1977 (Referendums) question, all such repeat questions were again rejected.

Referendums and plebiscites by year

(Bold entries denote proposals that were carried)

• 1906 Senate Elections
• 1910 State Debts, Surplus Revenue
• 1911 Trade and Commerce, Monopolies
• 1913 Trade and Commerce, Corporations, Industrial Matters, Trusts, Monopolies, Railway Disputes
• 1916 Military Service (plebiscite)
• 1917 Military Service (plebiscite)
• 1919 Legislative Powers, Monopolies
• 1926 Industry and Commerce, Essential Services
• 1928 State Debts
• 1937 Aviation, Marketing
• 1944 Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights
• 1946 Social Services, Marketing, Industrial Employment
• 1948 Rents and Prices
• 1951 Communists and Communism
• 1967 Parliament, Aborigines
• 1973 Prices, Incomes
• 1974 Simultaneous Elections, Mode of Altering the Constitution, Democratic Elections, Local Government Bodies
• 1977 Simultaneous Elections, Senate Casual Vacancies, Referendums, Retirement of Judges, National Song (plebiscite)
• 1984 Terms of Senators, Interchange of Powers
• 1988 Parliamentary Terms, Fair Elections, Local Government, Rights and Freedoms
• 1999 Establishment of Republic, Preamble

External links

• Australian Parliamentary Handbook on Referendums and Plebiscites results of all referendums presented.
• Constitutional Referenda in Australia this is a very interesting document which discusses the various referendums at length.