Australian referendum, 1944

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1944 Australian Referendum was held on 19 August 1944. It contained one referendum question.

(16) Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights

1 Proposed Amendment
2 Results
3 The 14 Powers
4 See also

[edit] Proposed Amendment

Constitution Alteration (Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights) 1944 was known as the 14 powers, or 14 points referendum. It sought to give the government power over a period of five years, to legislate on a wide variety of matters.

[edit] Results

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights) 1944'?

Result
State	On rolls	Ballots issued	For		Against		Informal
State	On rolls	Ballots issued		%		%	Informal
New South Wales	1,758,166	1,694,119	759,211	%45.44	911,680	%54.56	23,228
Victoria	1,266,662	1,227,571	597,848	%49.31	614,487	%50.69	15,236
Queensland	633,907	599,568	216,262	%36.52	375,862	%63.48	7,444
South Australia	403,133	392,443	196,294	%50.64	191,317	%49.36	4,832
Western Australia	278,722	272,339	140,399	%52.25	128,303	%47.75	3,637
Tasmania	143,359	139,411	53,386	%38.92	83,769	%61.08	2,256
Armed Forces*		417,082	218,452		195,148		3,482
Total for Commonwealth	4,483,949	4,325,451	1,963,400	%45.99	2,305,418	%54.01	56,633
Obtained majority in two States and an overall minority of 342,018 votes.
Not carried

* Armed forces totals are also included in their respective states.

[edit] The 14 Powers

The powers the government sought to gain included:

Ex-servicemen rehabilitation
National health
Family allowances
the ability to legislate for Indigenous Australians
Corporations, or Combines
Trusts
Monopolies
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Safeguards against the abuse of legislative power

All of these points were put to referendum in the form of a single question. It is notable that the points referring to corporations, trusts, combines and monopolies had been previously put to referendum, and had not been carried.