The significance of one referendum in which the Australian people have protected or changed the Australian Constitution
Name of referendum: Communist Party referendum
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Original wording and provisions of the Constitution | The change and wording that was proposed | Outcome | Factors that may have impacted on its success or failure | Impact |
Section 51 grants legislative powers to the Commonwealth Parliament (referred to as ‘heads of power’) – either exclusive powers or concurrent powers
| The referendum proposed the addition of a new clause to section 51. This involved a new head of power for section 51. The effect of this change would give the government the power to ban the Communist Party in Australia. | The referendum failed. It obtained majority support in three states (Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania) but not in the required four. It also was not successful in gaining a nationwide majority (only 49.44 per cent of the population voted “Yes”). | The people were not prepared to give the Commonwealth the power to declare a person a communist, thereby affecting people’s rights while bypassing the legal system. | The failure of the referendum preserved the limited powers of the Commonwealth in relation to the Communist Party; it maintained the ability of the Commonwealth to make harmful behaviours unlawful, and maintained the ability of the courts to hear cases where someone was accused of breaking those laws. It stopped the Commonwealth from gaining the additional power to declare the Communist Party illegal as a legislative fact, and stopped it from punishing Party members without any evidence before a court that they had done anything wrong. |
The significance of the referendum regarding the way in which the Australian people protected or changed the Australian Constitution The Australian people chose in 1951 to protect and preserve the Constitution and the separation of powers. The consensus today is that Australia “dodged a bullet” when it rejected the proposal. The results of the referendum began a fairly small pattern of state voting blocs. The result also went some way to creating the mythology surrounding bipartisan support.
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Name of referendum: Aboriginal Advancement referendum
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Original wording and provisions of the Constitution | The change and wording that was proposed | Outcome | Factors that may have impacted on its success or failure | Impact |
Section 51(xxvi) gave the Commonwealth a specific power over races of people, but the Aboriginal race was listed as an express restriction on Commonwealth power.
Section 127 mandated the exclusion of Aboriginal people from population counts conducted for electoral purposes.
| The referendum proposed removing words from section 51(xxvi): to remove the words “other than the aboriginal race in any State.” The referendum also proposed deleting section 127 altogether. | The referendum received a majority of voters Australia-wide (90.77 per cent), and a majority of voters in all six states. | The absence of a ‘No’ campaign. The belief in the community was that the legal changes made by the proposal would symbolise and facilitate greater inclusion: that it would be a nation-building exercise. There was a general sense that the federal government would be more likely to legislate expressly in the Aboriginal interest. | The Commonwealth was given additional powers to legislate for Aboriginal people in the states. These specific powers were held concurrently with the states. Aboriginal people were also counted for the purposes of Commonwealth grants of money to states, the calculation of state and territory representatives in the lower house of parliament, and the official publication of Australia’s population. |
The significance of the referendum regarding the way in which the Australian people protected or changed the Australian Constitution The Australian people chose in 1967 to change the Constitution. The Commonwealth gained the ability to pass legislation dealing explicitly with the needs of Indigenous people, and Indigenous people were now counted for federal purposes. In the longer term, the referendum has failed to substantially improve conditions for Indigenous people.
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