Section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution of Australia

The Australian people voting at the 1967 referendum deleted the words in italics, moving and centralising the existing State Parliaments' race power to the Federal government.

Quick and Garran observed in 1901 that "It enables the Parliament to deal with the people of any alien race after they have entered the Commonwealth; to localise them within defined areas, to restrict their migration, to confine them to certain occupations, or to give them special protection and secure their return after a certain period to the country whence they came.

[7] Section 51(xxvi) supports the rejection of legal equality requirements when considering legislation otherwise validly enacted under the Constitution.

In the 1998 case Kartinyeri v Commonwealth, the High Court was split on whether s 51(xxvi) could be used to enact legislation that adversely discriminated on the basis of race.

[13] The Northern Territory National Emergency Response of 2007–2011, and its continuation as the Stronger Futures policy would have required the use of this section had the Commonwealth implemented it in any of the states.