Western Australian secession referendum, 1933
A referendum was held on 8 April 1933 in the Australian state of Western Australia on the topic of withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth.[1] The proposal was accepted and a petition was sent to London where a Joint Select Committee of the British Parliament ruled it invalid because it had come from a State not the Commonwealth.
Voting was compulsory and the result on the first question was 138,653 in favour and 70,706 against. Question two was rejected by a vote of 119,031 against to 88,275 in favour.[2] There were 237,198 registered voters. Only six of the fifty electoral districts recorded a No vote, and five of these were in the Goldfields and Kimberley regions.[3]
Question
- Question 1: Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth established under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Imperial)?
- Question 2: Are you in favour of a Convention of Representatives of equal number from each of the Australian states being summoned for the purpose of proposing such alterations in the Constitution of the Commonwealth as may appear to such Convention to be necessary?
| Referendum Date |
Outcome 1 |
Outcome 2 |
| 8 April 1933 |
Withdrawal ACCEPTED |
Convention REJECTED |
| Question |
YES |
NO |
| 1. Western Australia withdrawal from Commonwealth of Australia |
138,653 |
70,706 |
| 2. Australian states' constitutional convention |
88,275 |
119,031 |
Aftermath
A joint Select Committee of the Westminster parliament decided not to act on the result as it did not have the support of the Australian federal government as required by the Statute of Westminster. Pressure for further action was reduced by the anti-secession Labor victory in the simultaneous Western Australian state election, 1933.
References
See also