1967 Australian referendum
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The 1967 Australian referendum occurred on 27 May 1967 under the Holt government. It contained three topics asked about in two questions, regarding the passage of two bills to alter the Australian Constitution.[1]
The first question (Constitution Alteration (Parliament) Bill 1967) sought to increase the number of Members in the House of Representatives.[1] The second question (Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) Bill 1967) related to Indigenous Australians (referred to as "the Aboriginal Race") and was in two parts: whether to give the Federal Government the power to make laws for Indigenous Australians in states, and whether in population counts for constitutional purposes to include all Indigenous Australians.[1][2][3]
| Question | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | States in favour | Voters in favour | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (25) Parliament | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | 1:5 | 40% | Not carried |
| (26) Aboriginal people | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6:0 | 91% | Carried |
Results in detail
Parliament
| State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | For | Against | Informal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote | % | Vote | % | |||||
| New South Wales | 2,315,828 | 2,166,507 | 1,087,694 | 51.01 | 1,044,458 | 48.99 | 34,355 | |
| Victoria | 1,734,476 | 1,630,594 | 496,826 | 30.87 | 1,112,506 | 69.13 | 21,262 | |
| Queensland | 904,808 | 848,728 | 370,200 | 44.13 | 468,673 | 55.87 | 9,855 | |
| South Australia | 590,275 | 560,844 | 186,344 | 33.91 | 363,120 | 66.09 | 11,380 | |
| Western Australia | 437,609 | 405,666 | 114,841 | 29.05 | 280,523 | 70.95 | 10,302 | |
| Tasmania | 199,589 | 189,245 | 42,764 | 23.06 | 142,660 | 76.94 | 3,821 | |
| Total for Commonwealth | 6,182,585 | 5,801,584 | 2,298,669 | 40.25 | 3,411,940 | 59.75 | 90,975 | |
| Results | Obtained majority in one state and an overall minority of 1,113,271 votes. Not carried | |||||||
This section is an excerpt from 1967 Australian referendum (Parliament) § Results
Aboriginal people
| State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | For | Against | Informal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote | % | Vote | % | |||||
| New South Wales | 2,315,828 | 2,166,507 | 1,949,036 | 91.46 | 182,010 | 8.54 | 35,461 | |
| Victoria | 1,734,476 | 1,630,594 | 1,525,026 | 94.68 | 85,611 | 5.32 | 19,957 | |
| Queensland | 904,808 | 848,728 | 748,612 | 89.21 | 90,587 | 10.79 | 9,529 | |
| South Australia | 590,275 | 560,844 | 473,440 | 86.26 | 75,383 | 13.74 | 12,021 | |
| Western Australia | 437,609 | 405,666 | 319,823 | 80.95 | 75,282 | 19.05 | 10,561 | |
| Tasmania | 199,589 | 189,245 | 167,176 | 90.21 | 18,134 | 9.79 | 3,935 | |
| Total for Commonwealth | 6,182,585 | 5,801,584 | 5,183,113 | 90.77 | 527,007 | 9.23 | 91,464 | |
| Results | Obtained majority in all six states and an overall majority of 4,656,106 votes. Carried | |||||||
This section is an excerpt from 1967 Australian referendum (Aboriginals) § Results