The Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) Bill 1974,[1] was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to require simultaneous elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 18 May 1974. Previous elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate had usually held simultaneously although this was a matter of convention rather than constitutional law. Election terms had lost synchronisation in the 1960s with separate half Senate elections in 1964, 1967 and 1970.
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An Act to alter the Constitution so as to ensure that Senate elections are held at the same time as House of Representatives elections. Do you approve the proposed law? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The bill to amend the constitution was passed by the House of Representatives however it was rejected by the Senate.[1] Instead the referendum was put to voters using the deadlock provision in Section 128.[2]
Proposed law entitled "An Act to alter the Constitution so as to ensure that Senate elections are held at the same time as House of Representatives elections".
Do you approve the proposed law?
State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | For | Against | Informal | |||
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Vote | % | Vote | % | |||||
New South Wales | 2,834,558 | 2,702,903 | 1,359,485 | 51.06 | 1,303,117 | 48.94 | 40,301 | |
Victoria | 2,161,474 | 2,070,893 | 1,001,111 | 49.19 | 1,033,969 | 50.81 | 35,813 | |
Queensland | 1,154,762 | 1,098,401 | 481,092 | 44.32 | 604,444 | 55.68 | 12,865 | |
South Australia | 750,308 | 722,434 | 332,369 | 47.14 | 372,666 | 52.86 | 17,399 | |
Western Australia | 612,016 | 577,989 | 248,860 | 44.07 | 315,786 | 55.93 | 13,343 | |
Tasmania | 246,596 | 237,891 | 96,793 | 41.37 | 137,156 | 58.63 | 3,942 | |
Total for Commonwealth | 7,759,714 | 7,410,511 | 3,519,710 | 48.30 | 3,767,138 | 51.70 | 123,663 | |
Results | Obtained majority in one state and an overall minority of 247,428 votes. Not carried |
The proposal was to alter the constitution as follows (removed text stricken through; substituted text in bold):[1]
This was the first unsuccessful referendum that sought to enable simultaneous elections of the House of Representatives and the Senate.[3]
Question | NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | ACT [4] | NT [4] | States in favour | Voters in favour | Result |
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(29) 1974 Simultaneous Elections | 51.1% | 49.2% | 44.3% | 47.1% | 44.1% | 41.4% | — | — | 1:5 | 48.3% | Not carried |
(33) 1977 Simultaneous Elections | 70.7% | 65.0% | 47.5% | 66.0% | 48.5% | 34.3% | — | — | 3:3 | 62.2% | Not carried |
(37) 1984 Terms of Senators | 52.9% | 53.2% | 45.7% | 50.0% | 46.5% | 39.3% | 56.7% | 51.9% | 2:4 | 50.6% | Not carried |
(39) 1988 Parliamentary Terms | 31.7% | 36.2% | 35.2% | 26.8% | 30.7% | 25.3% | 43.6% | 38.1% | 0:6 | 32.9% | Not carried |