1919 Australian referendum

Unsuccessful proposals to expand the Commonwealth powers

The 1919 Australian referendum was held on 13 December 1919. It contained two referendum questions. The referendums were held in conjunction with the 1919 federal election.

Results [1] Question  | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | States in favour  | Voters in favour  | Result

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(12) Legislative Powers | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | 3:3  | 49.7%  | Not carried
(13) Nationalisation of Monopolies | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | 3:3  | 48.6%  | Not carried

## Results in detail

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### Legislative Powers

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This section is an excerpt from 1919 Australian referendum (Legislative Powers) § Results

Question: Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Legislative Powers) 1919'?

Result [1] State  | Electoral roll  | Ballots issued  | For  | Against  | Informal

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Vote  | %  | Vote  | %
New South Wales  | 1,079,439  | 717,565  | 259,751 | 39.95  | 390,450  | 60.05 | 67,132
Victoria  | 837,408  | 638,098  | 369,210  | 64.65 | 201,869  | 35.35 | 66,227
Queensland  | 389,200  | 330,231  | 175,225  | 57.35 | 130,299  | 42.65  | 24,397
South Australia  | 268,235  | 178,092  | 40,520  | 25.28  | 119,789  | 74.72 | 17,656
Western Australia  | 163,544  | 103,235  | 48,142  | 51.75 | 44,892  | 48.25  | 9,854
Tasmania  | 112,036  | 65,716  | 18,509  | 33.43  | 36,861  | 66.57 | 10,128
Total for Commonwealth  | 2,849,862  | 2,032,937  | 911,357  | 49.65  | 924,160  | 50.35 | 195,394
Results  | Obtained majority in three states and an overall minority of 12,803 votes. Not carried

### Monopolies

[edit]

This section is an excerpt from 1919 Australian referendum (Monopolies) § Results

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Nationalization of Monopolies) 1919'?

Result [1] State  | Electoral roll  | Ballots issued  | For  | Against  | Informal

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Vote  | %  | Vote  | %
New South Wales  | 1,079,439  | 717,565  | 227,156  | 38.31  | 365,847  | 61.69 | 124,330
Victoria  | 837,408  | 638,098  | 324,343  | 63.29 | 188,129  | 36.71  | 124,834
Queensland  | 389,200  | 330,231  | 162,062  | 56.92 | 122,650  | 43.08  | 45,209
South Australia  | 268,235  | 178,092  | 38,503  | 25.54  | 112,259  | 74.46 | 27,203
Western Australia  | 163,544  | 103,235  | 45,285  | 53.99 | 38,584  | 46.01  | 19,019
Tasmania  | 112,036  | 65,716  | 16,531  | 34.08  | 31,982  | 65.92 | 16,985
Total for Commonwealth  | 2,849,862  | 2,032,937  | 813,880  | 48.64  | 859,451  | 51.36 | 357,580
Results  | Obtained majority in three states and an overall minority of 45,571 votes. Not carried

## See also

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* Referendums in Australia
* Politics of Australia
* History of Australia

## References

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1. ^ a b c Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.

## Further reading

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* Select sources on constitutional change in Australia 1901-1997. Part 2 - History of Australian Referendums (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. 24 March 1997. ISBN 0644484101.
* Bennett, Scott (2003). "Research Paper no. 11 2002–03: The Politics of Constitutional Amendment". Canberra: Parliamentary Library of Australia..
* Australian Electoral Commission (2007) Referendum Dates and Results 1906 – Present AEC, Canberra.

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