Referendums in Australia

In Australia, referendums (also spelt referenda)[1] are public votes held on important issues where the electorate may approve or reject a certain proposal.

[9][10] Since multiple referendum questions are often asked on the same ballot, there have only been 20 separate occasions that the Australian people have gone to the polls to vote on constitutional amendments—of which 8 have been concurrent with a federal election.

[11] There have also been three nationwide non-constitutional plebiscites (two on conscription and one on the national song), and one postal survey (on same-sex marriage).

If the bill has only been passed in one house, the governor-general must, under the deadlock provision of section 128, then decide whether or not to submit the referendum to the people.

It has been argued that this provision is not limited to proposed alterations of state boundaries, but may also extend to the acquisition of land by the Commonwealth under section 51(xxxi).

[21] Non-constitutional plebiscites, are conducted by the government to decide a matter relating to ordinary statute law, an advisory question of policy, or as a prelude to the submission of a formal referendum question, rather than a binding and entrenched alteration (amendment) to the Constitution.

[24][25] Australians have rejected most proposals for constitutional amendments, approving only 8 out of 45 referendums submitted to them since federation.

"[26] Of forty-five referendums, there have been five instances – in 1937, twice in 1946, and once each in 1977 and 1984 – where a national Yes vote has been achieved but failed to win a majority of states.

[19] A contributing factor to the predominance of the No vote comes from the unwillingness of the Australian voters to extend the powers of the federal government.

The government hoped that support for this amendment would encourage electors to vote yes for the second referendum submitted at the same time, which would have abolished the nexus between the numbers of members in each House.