1913 Australian referendum (Trusts)

1913 Australian Trusts referendum
31 May 1913 (1913-05-31)
Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled —

"Constitution Alteration (Trusts) 1912" ?
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 967,331 49.78%
No 975,943 50.22%
Valid votes 1,943,274 95.69%
Invalid or blank votes 87,496 4.31%
Total votes 2,030,770 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 2,760,216 73.57%

The Constitution Alteration (Trusts) Bill 1912,[1] was an unsuccessful referendum held in 1913 that sought to alter the Australian Constitution to give the Commonwealth legislative power in respect to trusts.

Question

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Trusts) 1912'?

The proposal was to alter the text of section 51 of the Constitution to read as follows:[2]

51. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have Legislative power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:

(xl.) Trusts, combinations, and monopolies in relation to the production, manufacture, or supply of goods, or the supply of services.

Results

The referendum was not approved by a majority of voters, and a majority of the voters was achieved in only three states.[3][4]

Result [3][4]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote % Vote %
New South Wales 1,036,187 717,855 319,150 47.12 358,155 52.88 39,294
Victoria 830,391 626,861 301,729 49.71 305,268 50.29 19,536
Queensland 363,082 280,525 147,871 54.78 122,088 45.22 10,345
South Australia 244,026 195,463 96,400 51.67 90,185 48.33 8,661
Western Australia 179,784 132,149 67,342 53.59 58,312 46.41 6,162
Tasmania 106,746 80,398 314,839 45.38 41,935 54.62 3,498
Total for Commonwealth 2,760,216 2,033,251 967,331 49.78 975,943 50.22 87,496
Results Obtained majority in three states and an overall minority of 8,612 votes. Not carried

Discussion

The 1911 referendum asked a single question that dealt with the acquisition of monopolies. This resolution separated laws in relation to monopolies and the acquisition of monopolies into different questions. Like its forebear, neither resolution was carried. On each of the many occasions a similar question was asked at a referendum the public decided not to vest power in the Commonwealth over these matters.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Constitution Alteration (Trusts) Bill 1912". Retrieved 22 April 2019 – via legislation.gov.au.
  2. ^ "Notification of the receipt of a Writ for a Referendum". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. 30. 25 April 1913. pp. 1097–8 – via www.legislation.gov.au..
  3. ^ a b "Result of the Referendum". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. 55. 2 August 1913. p. 1792 – via www.legislation.gov.au.
  4. ^ a b c Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.

Further reading