The Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1977 was an Australian referendum held in the 1977 referendums which sought to amend the Australian constitution for the second time to ensure that elections for both houses of parliament occurred simultaneously.
Contents
Question
It is proposed to alter the Constitution to ensure that Senate elections are held at the same time as House of Representatives elections.
Do you approve the proposed law?
Discussion
This was one of several occasions that the double majority rule resulted in a referendum with a clear 'Yes' overall majority not being approved, as it failed to receive approval in a majority of States. The margin of failure, 9211 votes (in WA), made it the third closest referendum result in Australian history. Charles Court the Liberal Premier of Western Australia, Joh Bjelke-Petersen the National Party Premier of Queensland and Max Bingham Leader of the Tasmanian state Liberal Party (then in Opposition at the state level) campaigned against the referendum, causing its defeat in those three states.