A ‘referendum’ is the process for changing the Australian Constitution. A majority of all voters in a majority of the states, are required to say ‘yes’ in order for a change to happen. This is known as the ‘double majority’ requirement and is why it’s so hard for referendums to succeed.
This will be Australia’s 45th referendum. Of these, only eight have succeeded. Five further referendums received a majority of the national vote, but not a majority in a majority of states. The double majority requirement is a significant threshold, reflecting the unique significance of the Constitution as the nation’s ‘rulebook’.
What is a Constitution?
The Australian Constitution took effect on 1 January 1901. It brought together the existing states who came together and negotiated an agreement to become part of a federation: the Commonwealth of Australia. You can read more about Federation here.
The Constitution is different from ordinary laws or Acts of Parliament. It is the founding document that sets out the powers of the Commonwealth of Australia. You can think of it as the rulebook that sets out the processes and matters that the Commonwealth of Australia may make laws about.
Listen, learn and share:
Australian Electoral Commission has released a ‘Your Answers Matter – Referendum 101’ Podcast to share unbiased information on the referendum process in the lead-up to the Voice to Parliament vote on October 14.
Episode 1 – Why have a referendum? A LISTNR Production Sponsored by the Australian Electoral Commission Kerry: This year, Australia will hold a national referendum. This referendum will ask voters if the Constitution should be altered to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. With Australia’s last referendum being held over 20 years ago, many might not know why they’re held, or how to vote. Hi, I’m Kerry, and in this podcast, I’ll be joined by the team from the Australian Electoral Commission to unpack the process ahead of the referendum so that you can vote with confidence. This is an unbiased and detailed look at why the referendum is important, how you can make your vote count, and why your answer matters. Before we crack into the nuts and bolts of a referendum, let’s start by introducing our guests. I’m joined by Meg and Alex from the AEC to look at why some countries might hold referendums and why Australia’s so lucky to have them. Meg, Alex - thanks for joining me on the podcast. Meg: Hi! Alex: Hey Kerry, good to be here. Kerry: Meg, what do you do at the AEC? Meg: I’m a Social Media Officer. Alex: Meg’s actually selling herself short. She is the Social Media Officer. Kerry: And what about you Alex? Alex: I’m a Media Officer at the AEC. So, I talk to journalists all day. I love jumping on the radio and talking about elections. I also do a bit of video production on the side. So, if you’ve seen AECTV on YouTube – that’s some of my work. Kerry: Many hats. Meg, tell us, what makes Australian democracy special? Meg: Voting is a part of Australian culture, and if my accent doesn’t give it away, I’m Canadian. I grew up in Canada. I didn’t vote in an election until I voted in Australia in a federal election, and that was also the first time that I had a democracy sausage. And I think the democracy sausage really epitomises how celebrated voting is in Australia. If you’ve ever been to a polling place, there’s staff milling around, usually there’s a BBQ or a cake stand...it takes a national event, it creates a community hub, and that’s reflected in our participation rates. Here in Australia people vote formally, in higher numbers here, and I think that’s what makes Australian democracy so special. It is so celebrated, and I think rightly so, it’s such a privilege, and I think people recognise that. Kerry: Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more. You know, waiting in line, meeting all the people, collecting all the pamphlets. It really does feel like a community event, and I don’t know about you, but I know that the night of a voting day, you know tuning into TV to watch that live update, it’s a bit of an event. So, I couldn’t agree with you more. On that note of community and there being lots of people who get involved, who has to vote in Australia? Alex: So, the short answer is everyone. So, if you’re over 18 and you’re an Australian citizen, then you have not only a right, but an obligation to enrol to vote and to vote when an election or a referendum is held. That’s the universal franchise we’ve got in Australia and it’s a really, really important right that you have. Kerry: I do wonder if you could just explain to us a little more…what exactly is a referendum? Meg: So, a referendum is a special type of vote on whether to change the Constitution. Now, the Constitution is a very important document, a highly protected document, and it’s the rulebook for Australia. And it kind of covers everything: how courts work, when we can have elections, what kind of laws we can make. And because of that, there’s only one way to change the Constitution and that’s by the will of the people, through a referendum. Kerry: Why would the government have a referendum? Alex, maybe you can shed some light on that. Alex: As Meg was saying, a referendum is the only way that you can change Australia’s Constitution. So, if you want to change Australia’s Constitution – and there have been 44 previous referendums in our history, so we’ve certainly had some proposed changes in the past – the only way to do that is with a referendum. And that means a national vote, obtaining the will of the people for the change that you want to make to the Constitution. And, if it’s successful, then Australia’s Constitution changes. If it’s not, then we continue as we were. Kerry: Could you explain what the difference is between an election and a referendum? Meg: Well, I think a lot of Australians are confused about this one. It’s been a long time since we had a referendum, 24 years to be exact. A referendum is similar to an election but there’s some key differences. In an election, you’re electing people. So, Senators or Members of Parliament. That’s why when you get your ballot paper, it will essentially look like a big list of names, and you’ll number the boxes in order of your preference. Now, in a referendum, because we’re deciding whether to change the Constitution, you’ll get your ballot paper, but it will look like a question. Do you agree with the proposed change to the Constitution, and you’ll be writing ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. So, those are the key differences. Kerry: So, to be clear, the election you get a whole lot of boxes and a whole lot of choices…but in the referendum it’s just a very clear ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote? Meg: Yeah, that’s right. A lot of people will be familiar with getting a really long Senate ballot paper when they vote in a federal election, but in a referendum, it’ll just be one piece of paper and you have to write either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Yes, I agree, or no, I don’t. Kerry: I’ve never voted in a referendum before. However, I did vote in the 2017 Marriage Law Postal Survey. So, maybe you could clear up for me…how is this referendum different from that 2017 Marriage Law Postal Survey? What is different here? Alex: You not having voted in a referendum before, you’re certainly not alone. There’s about 6.4 million Australians who were just too young or weren’t even born yet when the last referendum happened in 1999. So, it’s certainly been a while, and we know that there’s a lot of Australians for whom this is going to be the first time. Now, you’ve mentioned the postal survey in 2017 and a lot of people still talk about this as a referendum or a plebiscite. It really wasn’t. It was in fact not even run by the AEC. So, this was a voluntary postal survey that was run by the Bureau of Statistics and it asked Australians on an optional basis, so you could choose to take part or not, whether you wanted to change the law around who could get married in Australia. Now, that law is not the Constitution. So, it wasn’t something that we could have a referendum about. The result of that postal survey was not binding, which meant that ultimately the Parliament had the final say. So, you might remember those scenes from the House of Representatives when the marriage law was finally changed and that was, of course, politicians changing the law - whereas, Australia has the final say on a referendum. So, the way that Australia votes, when this referendum’s held later in the year, will be the way that Australia goes. Our Constitution will either change or it won’t. And that will depend on your vote. Kerry: So, just to be clear, the difference between the 2017 Marriage Law Postal Survey and this referendum is that the marriage law postal survey wasn’t binding. However, the referendum is binding…? Alex: That’s exactly right. If I could quote my old friend Captain Planet for a moment - the power is yours! Kerry: On the next episode of Your Answer Matters… Alex: We’ve had eight referendums in Australia’s history that have happened at the same time as a federal election, but it’s not something that’s happened recently. So, the last election that happened at the same time as a referendum was the 1988 election…been a few years since then…and every referendum and, for that matter, every election that’s happened since has been separate. Kerry: …we deep dive into the history of referendums. Join us then as we get you vote ready for the 2023 referendum. LISTNR
Episode 4 – How did we get here? A LISTNR production Sponsored by the Australian Electoral Commission Kerry: This year, Australia will hold a national referendum. This referendum will ask voters if the Constitution should be altered to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. With Australia’s last referendum being held over 20 years ago, many might not know why they’re held or how to vote. Hi, I’m Kerry, and in this podcast, I’ll be joined by the team from the Australian Electoral Commission to unpack the process ahead of the referendum - so that you can vote with confidence. This is an unbiased and detailed look at why the referendum is important, how you can make your vote count, and why your answer matters. Last episode we looked at what the AEC is and explored the important role that they play in the referendum. Meg and Alex have joined us again, this time to dive into exactly how a referendum comes to be and what the most important steps along the way are. Meg and Alex, thanks so much for your time today. Meg: Thanks for having us. Alex: Howdy, howdy! Kerry: Let’s start at the beginning here, who decides we have a referendum? Meg: Parliament does. So, Senators and Members of Parliament debate it out and they pass a Bill. That includes the wording and the content that they’d like to change in the Constitution. And then, after that, the Prime Minister sets a date for polling day. You might think that we might have some secret intel into what date that is, but no, we find out when everyone else does - on the news! Kerry: And how is the question of the referendum decided on? Alex: It’s actually a Parliamentary process. So, just like any Bill that gets debated and passed in Parliament, the government might introduce a certain wording and then certainly in the case of this referendum, it’s gone to a Parliamentary Committee that’s asked for submissions from the public. Everyone’s had a bit of a say on what the referendum question should look like, and that’s ultimately been passed by both houses of Parliament and that’s decided on the wording. So, in exactly the same way as any other Bill happens. Kerry: So, once a referendum has been confirmed and a question has been formed and we’ve kind of gone through those initial steps, what happens after that? Alex: Well, it’s up to the Prime Minister on when and how to call the referendum. What we can say now is it might look similar like an election being called - that sort of famous drive from the PM’s car…he drives from Parliament House all the way down to Yarralumla to ask the Governor General for a thing called a Writ, and he’ll probably go back to Parliament House to announce it in the PM’s courtyard, just like an election getting announced. And I expect you’ll see that very heavily covered on the news when it happens. Kerry: So, a Writ gets issued. What exactly is a Writ? And what happens after that? Meg: A Writ is an instruction for us at the AEC to hold a referendum and it comes from the Governor General. The Writ includes deadlines that we have to meet. For example - the last day to enrol before polling day, the polling day date and the date that we have to provide the result back to the Governor General. It also enacts our legislation, and our legislation requires us to do a whole bunch of other things and that includes mailing out a pamphlet a fortnight before polling day and that pamphlet will go out to 12.5 million Australian households. So, a huge task. Kerry: Can you tell me a little bit more about what people can expect in that pamphlet? Alex: Yeah, sure. It’s something that we haven’t done in 24 years so we’re all a little bit rusty, and Australians might not have received something like this before. The pamphlet is going to contain written cases for voting ‘Yes’ and for voting ‘No’ in the referendum and those cases - we talked about the Bill being passed in Parliament before - so the ‘Yes’ case is written by Parliamentarians, Members and Senators who voted ‘Yes’ to pass the Bill, and the ‘No’ case is written by those Members and Senators who voted ‘No’, to not pass the bill. This is basically giving both sides the opportunity to put their case to 12.5 million Australian households, which is just about every voter, and it will give you information from both cases about the arguments for and against. Now, if you’re curious, you don’t have to wait for the pamphlet. We’ve already got the written cases up on the AEC’s website so you can visit that. Just visit aec.gov.au and you can have a peruse at your leisure. Kerry: I’m a Millennial. But I do in fact love a good hardcover book, so I will be waiting for the pamphlet. Do you have any say of what goes into it? Alex: No, and that’s a really, really important point. So, the AEC is, honestly and almost literally, a post box in this circumstance. So, we receive written cases from the ‘Yes’ and the ‘No’ campaigns. We have no role in editing it in any way. Even if there’s a typo in there, we can’t correct it. It’s entirely their words. All we do is, we put it out on some nice typesetting, and then we’re responsible for sending that pamphlet out to 12.5 million households. Meg: Yeah, and I think that’s in line with our role as being an independent umpire in this whole process. Kerry: Okay wow, so you can’t even edit it, even if there’s a spelling mistake? Were there any spelling mistakes in this one? Meg: No, not that we found, and they were all received on time as well. Kerry: Okay, so the pamphlet goes out, everyone gives it a good read, then everyone casts their vote on voting day, and then the AEC counts the votes. What happens next? How do you figure out the result? Alex: Well, you might think that it’s as simple as just collecting all the ‘Yes’ votes and putting them in one pile, collect all the ‘No’ votes, put them in other pile – bing bang bong, we’re out by seven o’clock. Not the case. Meg: So, there’s two hurdles that we need to meet when we’re declaring a result. So, one is a majority for the national vote and the other is a majority for the states and that’s called a double majority. Kerry: Just as I thought I was getting my head around this, you’ve gone and thrown another term at me - double majority! I think we might save this one for another episode if that’s okay with you guys…? Meg: Let’s do it! Kerry: On the next episode… Alex: It comes down to the Constitution being the most important document in Australia, really. So, it’s so important that it can’t just be changed with a national vote, you need the states to get on board as well. So, instead, there are actually two hurdles that you need to clear if you want to change the Constitution. Kerry: …we unpack everything about the double majority. That’s next time, on Your Answer Matters. LISTNR
Episode 6 – Mythbusting A LISTNR Production Sponsored by the Australian Electoral Commission Kerry: This year, Australia will hold a national referendum. This referendum will ask voters if the Constitution should be altered to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. With Australia’s last referendum being held over 20 years ago, many might not know why they’re held or how to vote. Hi, I’m Kerry, and in this podcast, I’ll be joined by the team from the Australian Electoral Commission to unpack the process ahead of the referendum so that you can vote with confidence. This is an unbiased and detailed look at why the referendum is important, how you can make your vote count, and why your answer matters. In today’s episode, I’ve had a bit of a look online to see what some of the most common misconceptions are around referendum…and believe it or not, there’s actually quite a few. Meg and Alex are here with me again, and I want to see if you guys are up for a little bit of rapid fire mythbusting…? Meg: Absolutely! Kerry: So, first myth is – you can have a referendum to change any law…? Meg: That’s actually not true. We only have referendums when we want to change the Constitution, and the Constitution of course is Australia’s rule book. How we change the Constitution is actually detailed within the Constitution and that process is a referendum. Kerry: Cross that one off the list. Here’s another one – the most recent referendum we had was about same sex marriage…? Alex: This one is an absolute classic – it comes up so often – it’s come up every day just about since 2017, which is when the same sex marriage postal survey happened. I say postal survey because it was a postal survey, it was not a referendum, it was not a plebiscite, it wasn’t even run by the AEC. It was actually run by the [Australian] Bureau of Statistics. The reason for that – there are many and varied reasons, but it was all about changing the law – the federal law around who can get married, rather than changing the Constitution, and of course the only reason you’d have a referendum is to change the Constitution. The AEC did help out a little bit with providing the electoral roll to the Bureau of Statistics etc., but that was the limit of our involvement – very much not a referendum. Kerry: Yeah, that is a common one that I’ve seen around. Here’s another common one that I’ve seen – you’ll only be able to vote by post…? Meg: Yeah, I think because of the postal survey that we had recently that Alex just spoke about, a lot of people think that the referendum will be the exact same, but in the referendum, you’ll be able to vote in all the same ways that you can vote in a federal election. So, that’s pre-poll voting two weeks before voting day, postal voting, and also overseas voting, if you’re overseas. Alex: So, you can vote by post, but you don’t have to. There are lots of other ways to vote too. Kerry: Okay the next one’s a juicy one on my list, and I think it’ll help a lot of people with maybe their own misconceptions. It’s not compulsory to vote at a referendum…? Alex: So, that is a really important one to be across. So, it is compulsory to vote at a referendum, just like a federal election. If you don’t vote, you’ll be contacted by the AEC to ask why not. We’re all citizens. We all have a responsibility to turn up and vote. Kerry: Alright, so remember to get down and vote people! Next one – you need to enrol to opt in to vote at a referendum…? Meg: Ooh, that’s a good one. That one’s actually not true. Here at the AEC, we use the same roll for referendums that we do for federal elections. So, if you’re enrolled to vote at a federal election, we’ve got you covered for a referendum as well. Kerry: Next one ties in kind of with the one I just asked you. A lot of people seem to think that enrolment takes ages…? Alex: Well, I’ve got some really good news for those people – it’s actually easier than it’s ever been to enrol online. Just visit aec.gov.au, enter some details on the website, you can either check your enrolment is up to date, or enrol for the first time, or of course you can update that enrolment if you have moved house. And a really exciting announcement that we’ve done in the last six months or so is that we’ve actually rolled out the Medicare card for proof of identity for enrolling. So, in the past when you’ve had to enrol you’ve needed to provide a driver’s licence number or a passport number. Now you can actually use your Medicare card number as well, and the really important thing about that is everyone has a Medicare card number. If you’re eligible to vote in Australia, you are eligible to have a Medicare card. So, you’ve got one sitting in your wallet. You’ve got one maybe on file with your doctor. And you can always just put those details in, enrol to vote and Bob’s your uncle, you’re all set. If you’re not on the roll or if you haven’t updated your details in a while, visit aec.gov.au – it couldn’t be simpler. Kerry: So, people listening – no excuses. Okay – next one. You need a two thirds majority to pass a referendum…? Meg: So actually, what you need is what’s called a double majority, and that’s a majority of voters nationally and a majority of voters in four out of the six states. And when we say majority, we’re talking simple majorities, which means 50 per cent plus one vote of the vote. Alex: I think where the two thirds majority comes from is actually, we get a lot of American TV shows and movies here in Australia, and that’s part of their system for changing their Constitution. You need a two thirds majority when something passes Congress. It’s not relevant here in Australia. It’s the double majority that you need for a referendum. Kerry: Alright, another misconception – and actually I’ve seen this one online a lot also – we only have referendums when the government doesn’t want to make a decision…? Alex: Nothing could be further from the truth in this one. So, if you want to change the Constitution then your only option is to hold a referendum and to seek the will of the people for the endorsement on the change that you want to make. Kerry: Another one here about the Government actually. The result doesn’t matter because the Government doesn’t have to act on it…? Meg: Let’s debunk that one straight away. Whatever the result is, it’s binding, and that’s part of the process outlined in the Constitution. Whether we say ‘Yes’, whether we say ‘No’, the government absolutely has to carry that out. Kerry: The next one is one that I hadn’t really thought about. If you test positive for COVID, can you vote by phone? Alex: Yeah, look, this is a complicated one and it ties back to the way that we ran last year’s election. At the last election we did have a change to the laws that allow us to run the election to allow us to offer voting by phone for people who had tested positive for COVID. Now, things have somewhat changed since then, and that legislation is not in place anymore and what that means is that telephone voting has reverted to its previous availability which is for people who are blind or have low vision or for people who are stationed in Antarctica. So, if you test positive for COVID before the Wednesday before voting day, that means you’re still eligible to apply for a postal vote. If you do decide to visit a polling place, what we’d request is some safety precautions on your part, so wear a mask and minimise your contact points in the polling place. Kerry: Alright guys, you’ve done really well. We’re at the last one on the list. If you don’t understand the topic, you shouldn’t vote…? Meg: If you’re feeling overwhelmed about the debate and kind of the information that is being thrown at you, just remember to stop and consider – consider the information that’s coming at you and who it’s from. And consider what you want to say. What we want is your honest answer on that paper. It doesn’t matter what other people are saying. Referendums can be about big issues and the fact that you’re getting nervous about it, or thinking about which way you want to go, is actually already participating in the process. The good news is that we’ve made the process really simple and straightforward for you. So, when you show up at a polling booth, you’ll be handed a sheet of paper – the ballot paper – and you’ll be asked to write ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. And that’s okay if you make a mistake – you can bring along someone actually that can help you out, or you can ask one of our polling staff. Kerry: On the next episode… Meg: Disinformation is a technical term for information that someone deliberately shares despite knowing that it’s incorrect. We’ll also talk about misinformation, that’s false information that’s shared with good intentions – someone might not know that it’s incorrect, but they share it anyway. Kerry:…we’re unpacking disinformation, and the role that the AEC play in combating it. That’s next time, on Your Answer Matters. LISTNR.
