The Constitution Alteration (Essential Services) Bill 1926, was an unsuccessful referendum held in 1926 that sought to alter the Australian Constitution to give the Commonwealth legislative power to protect the public from any actual or probable interruption of essential services.
Question Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Essential Services) 1926'?
Proposed Changes to the Constitution The proposal was to alter section 51 of the Constitution as follows: Section fifty-one of the Constitution is altered by inserting after paragraph (v.) the following paragraph:— (v.) a. Protecting the interests of the public in case of actual or probable interruption of any essential service.
Results The referendum was not approved by a majority of voters, and a majority of the voters was achieved in only two states, New South Wales and Queensland. + Result State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 1,241,635 1,131,656 545,270 536,734 49.61 49,652 Victoria 968,861 888,661 296,548 35.55 537,560 54,553 Queensland 440,632 399,664 188,473 184,320 49.44 26,871 South Australia 303,054 281,492 81,966 31.32 179,740 19,786 Western Australia 190,286 164,555 39,566 25.90 113,222 11,767 Tasmania 110,484 98,356 43,679 48.59 46,217 8,460 Total for Commonwealth 3,254,952 2,964,384 1,195,502 42.80 1,597,793 171,089 Results Obtained majority in two states and an overall minority of 402,291 votes. Not carried
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