At the time of Federation the very few people who lived in the Northern Territory voted as residents of South Australia.

In 1967 demonstrations against this restriction occurred in Alice Springs, as Territorians expressed their resentment at not being able to vote in the Aboriginals referendum.

Only New South Wales supported the proposal, but it is likely that, had the Territories section been a separate question, it would have been ratified.

It has been claimed that the high vote of approval was a reminder of Australia's honourable record of electoral reform — that the amendment had "Australian political tradition behind it".

[2] Despite John Paul of the University of New South Wales dismissing the change as the granting of a "hollow privilege",[3] The Canberra Times stated that people in both Territories should be grateful, "for the universal acknowledgment that their natural right to vote in future referendums will now be given the force of law".