Australian referendum, 1944

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

(16) Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights (not carried)

Proposed Amendment

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

The 14 Powers

The powers the government sought to gain included:

The rehabilitation of former servicemen
National health
Family allowances
The ability to legislate for Indigenous Australians
Corporations, or combines
Trust laws
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.

The 14 proposals covered the participation of the federal government in postwar reconstruction, including control over employment, profiteering and prices, and related subjects. ^[1]

For and Against

The proposal was put forward and supported by the Australian Labor Party government. It was opposed by the federal opposition (United Australia Party and the Country Party).

The Prime Minister John Curtin gave his broadcast to the nation on 25 July 1944, as follows.^[2] The Prime Minister said to abandon wartime controls on the declaration of peace would cause disorganization to the social system and destroy the capacity of the system to meet the need of the first few disturbed years after the war. ^[3]

The Country Party leader, Arthur Fadden, gave his broadcast against the motion, as follows.^[4]

Question

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

Results

Result
State	On rolls	Ballots issued	For		Against		Invalid
State	On rolls	Ballots issued		%		%	Invalid
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.

Cited references

Elections and referendums in Australia

Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 next by-elections

Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999

Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.