Technically it was a vote on the Constitution Alteration (Senate Elections) Bill 1906, which after being approved in the referendum received the royal assent on 3 April 1907.

The 1906 vote was the first referendum ever held in the Commonwealth of Australia and concerned the first amendment proposed to the constitution since its enactment.

Prior to the amendment the constitution provided, in section 13, that Senate term would begin on 1 January and end on 31 December.

The proposed amendment provided for Senate terms to begin on 1 July and end on 30 June.

[2] The amendment was uncontroversial, dealing with the mechanical matter of how to rotate Senate terms, and Robert Menzies later observed that "as the average voter ... does not care how frequently a Senator rotates, the amendment was carried".