1974 Australian referendum (Simultaneous Elections)

1974 Australian Simultaneous Elections referendum
18 May 1974 (1974-05-18)
An Act to alter the Constitution so as to ensure that Senate elections are held at the same time as House of Representatives elections.

Do you approve the proposed law?
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 3,519,710 48.30%
No 3,767,138 51.70%
Valid votes 7,286,848 98.33%
Invalid or blank votes 123,663 1.67%
Total votes 7,410,511 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 7,759,714 95.5%

The Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) Bill 1974,[1] was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to require simultaneous elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 18 May 1974. Previous elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate had usually held simultaneously although this was a matter of convention rather than constitutional law. Election terms had lost synchronisation in the 1960s with separate half Senate elections in 1964, 1967 and 1970.

The bill to amend the constitution was passed by the House of Representatives however it was rejected by the Senate.[1] Instead the referendum was put to voters using the deadlock provision in Section 128.[2]

  1. ^ a b Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) Bill 1974 (Cth).
  2. ^ Richardson, Jack (31 October 2000). "Resolving Deadlocks in the Australian Parliament". Research Paper 9 2000-01. Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 20 October 2021.