Held within the Australian referendum, 1967

Australian referendum, 1967

The 1967 Australian Referendum was held on 27 May 1967. It contained two referendum questions.* Parliament * Aboriginals ...

was a question about the Australian Parliament, so-called "Nexus". Section 24 of the Australian Constitution required that the number of members in the lower house (House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

) be as near as possible to twice the numbers of members in the upper house (Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

).

This ratio is quite common in other parliaments, but there are significant exceptions. The most important effect of the "Nexus" is to prevent swamping of the Senate's power in the case of a Joint Sitting

Joint session

A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally-separate decision-making groups meet together, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose....

 following a double dissolution

Double dissolution

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate....

election.

Results

Do you approve the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'An Act to alter the Constitution so that the number of members of the House of Representatives may be increased without necessarily increasing the number of Senators'?

Result

State	On rolls	Ballots issued	For		Against		Informal
				%		%
New South Wales	2,315,828	2,166,507	1,087,694	%51.01	1,044,458	%48.99	34,355
Victoria	1,734,476	1,630,594	496,826	%30.87	1,112,506	%69.13	21,262
Queensland	904,808	848,728	370,200	%44.13	468,673	%55.87	9,855
South Australia	590,275	560,844	186,344	%33.91	363,120	%66.09	11,380
Western Australia	437,609	405,666	114,841	%29.05	280,523	%70.95	10,302
Tasmania	199,589	189,245	42,764	%23.06	142,660	%76.94	3,821
Total for Commonwealth	6,182,585	5,801,584	2,298,669	%40.25	3,411,940	%59.75	90,975
Obtained majority in one State and an overall minority of 1,113,271 votes.
Not carried

See also