The 1977 Australian referendum was held on 21 May 1977. It contained four referendum questions and one non-binding plebiscite. To date, it is the most recent referendum to have been successful in Australia.

Result [1]
Question NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas States in favour Voters in favour Result
(33) Simultaneous Elections Yes Yes No Yes No No 3:3 62.2% Not carried
(34) Senate Casual Vacancies Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 6:0 73.3% Carried
(35) Referendums Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 6:0 77.7% Carried
(36) Retirement of Judges Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 6:0 80.1% Carried

This referendum had a particularly strong "Yes" vote. All but one of the referendum questions were carried, and the only one not carried had a clear national majority, but was held back by not achieving a majority of the states. No referendum since then has been successful.[lower-alpha 1][1]

Plebiscite [1]
  NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas ACT NT Total voters
National Song (Song with most votes) Advance Australia Fair Advance Australia Fair Advance Australia Fair Song of Australia Advance Australia Fair Advance Australia Fair Waltzing Matilda Advance Australia Fair Advance Australia Fair

The four referendum questions were only voted on in the states; voters in the territories only gained the right to vote on constitutional changes as a result of the Referendums amendment passing. Voters in the territories, however, were able to vote on the plebiscite.[1]

Results in detail

Simultaneous Elections

This section is an excerpt from 1977 Australian referendum (Simultaneous Elections) § Results
Result [1]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote  % Vote  %
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
Total for Commonwealth 8,242,383 7,605,882 4,648,407 62.22 2,822,547 37.78 134,928
Results Obtained majority in three states and an overall majority of 1,825,860 votes. Not carried

Senate Casual Vacancies

This section is an excerpt from 1977 Australian referendum (Senate Casual Vacancies) § Results
Result [1]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote  % Vote  %
New South Wales 3,007,511 2,774,388 2,230,218 81.62 502,171 18.38 41,999
Victoria 2,252,831 2,083,136 1,552,558 76.13 486,798 23.87 43,780
Queensland 1,241,426 1,138,842 662,732 58.86 463,165 41.14 12,945
South Australia 799,243 745,990 557,950 76.59 170,536 23.41 17,504
Western Australia 682,291 617,463 344,389 57.11 258,655 42.89 14,419
Tasmania 259,081 246,063 129,924 53.78 111,638 46.22 4,501
Total for Commonwealth 8,242,383 7,605,882 5,477,771 73.32 1,992,963 26.68 135,148
Results Obtained majority in all six states and an overall majority of 3,484,808 votes. Carried

Referendums

This section is an excerpt from 1977 Australian referendum (Inclusion of territories) § Results
Result [1]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote  % Vote  %
New South Wales 3,007,511 2,774,388 2,292,822 83.92 439,247 16.08 42,319
Victoria 2,252,831 2,083,136 1,647,187 80.78 391,855 19.22 44,094
Queensland 1,241,426 1,138,842 670,820 59.58 455,051 40.42 12,971
South Australia 799,243 745,990 606,743 83.29 121,770 16.71 17,477
Western Australia 682,291 617,463 437,751 72.62 165,049 27.38 14,663
Tasmania 259,081 246,063 150,346 62.25 91,184 37.75 4,533
Total for Commonwealth 8,242,383 7,605,882 5,805,669 77.72 1,664,156 22.28 136,057
Results Obtained majority in all six States and an overall majority of 4,141,513 votes. Carried

Retirement of Judges

This section is an excerpt from 1977 Australian referendum (Retirement of Judges) § Results
Result [1]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote  % Vote  %
New South Wales 3,007,511 2,774,388 2,316,999 84.84 414,070 15.16 43,319
Victoria 2,252,831 2,083,136 1,659,273 81.43 378,505 18.57 45,358
Queensland 1,241,426 1,138,842 734,183 65.24 391,227 34.76 13,432
South Australia 799,243 745,990 622,760 85.57 104,987 14.43 18,243
Western Australia 682,291 617,463 472,228 78.37 130,307 21.63 14,928
Tasmania 259,081 246,063 174,951 72.46 66,478 27.54 4,634
Total for Commonwealth 8,242,383 7,605,882 5,980,394 80.10 1,485,574 19.90 139,914
Results Obtained majority in all six States and an overall majority of 4,494,820 votes. Carried

National Song

This section is an excerpt from 1977 Australian plebiscite (National Song) § Results

Voters were presented with the following choice: Against the background that 'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN' is the NATIONAL ANTHEM to be played on Regal and Vice Regal occasions, electors may indicate their preferences as to which of the tunes of the songs listed below they would prefer to be played on other occasions.[2]

Result
State Electoral roll Ballots issued "God Save the Queen" "Advance Australia Fair" "The Song of Australia" "Waltzing Matilda" Informal
Vote  % Vote  % Vote  % Vote  %
New South Wales 3,007,511 2,537,805 348,885 15.32 1,169,421 51.35 121,456 5.33 637,795 28.00 260,248
Victoria 2,252,831 1,951,160 352,603 20.68 683,451 40.09 110,591 6.49 557,991 32.73 246,524
Queensland 1,241,426 1,056,804 204,453 21.38 438,929 45.90 61,234 6.40 251,609 26.31 100,579
South Australia 799,243 706,392 114,477 18.07 152,507 24.07 215,085 33.95 151,434 23.90 72,889
Western Australia 682,291 487,879 113,054 23.17 183,159 37.54 75,524 15.48 116,142 23.81 68,394
Tasmania 259,081 253,525 47,346 22.38 88,825 41.98 21,091 9.97 54,329 25.68 23,934
Australian Capital Territory 120,875 22,136 1,448 6.65 7,857 36.11 1,863 8.56 10,593 48.68 375
Northern Territory 38,209 2,951 423 14.93 1,143 40.35 413 14.58 854 30.14 118
Total for Commonwealth 8,401,467 7,069,046 1,182,689 18.78 2,725,292 43.29 607,257 9.65 1,780,747 28.28 773,061

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey returned a majority of "yes" votes in all states (and thus nationally) but – not being compulsory – was not a referendum.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Plebiscite results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.

Further reading

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