Australian referendum, 1977 (Simultaneous Elections)

The Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1977 was an Australian referendum held in the 1977 referendums which sought to amend the Australian constitution for the second time to ensure that elections for both houses of parliament occurred simultaneously.

Question

It is proposed to alter the Constitution to ensure that Senate elections are held at the same time as House of Representatives elections.

Do you approve the proposed law?

Results

Result
State On

rolls

 Ballots

issued

 For Against Invalid
% %
New South Wales 3,007,511 2,774,388 1,931,775 70.71% 800,331 29.29% 42,282
Victoria 2,252,831 2,083,136 1,325,708 65.00% 713,929 35.00% 43,499
Queensland 1,241,426 1,138,842 534,968 47.51% 590,942 52.49% 12,932
South Australia 799,243 745,990 480,827 65.99% 247,762 34.01% 17,401
Western Australia 682,291 617,463 292,344 48.47% 310,765 51.53% 14,354
Tasmania 259,081 246,063 82,785 34.26% 158,818 65.74% 4,460
Australian Total 8,242,383 7,605,882 4,648,407 62.22% 2,822,547 37.78% 134,928
Obtained majority in three States and an overall majority of 1,825,860 votes.
Not carried

Discussion

This was one of several occasions that the double majority rule resulted in a referendum with a clear 'Yes' overall majority not being approved, as it failed to receive approval in a majority of States. The margin of failure, 9211 votes (in WA), made it the third closest referendum result in Australian history. Even the support of both major federal parties and most of the media was not enough to ensure success.

See also


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