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A referendum proposal was voted on by the electors of Australia - VCE - SSCE Legal Studies - Question 3 - 2016 - Paper 1
Question 3
A referendum proposal was voted on by the electors of Australia. Fifty-six per cent of all voters in Australia voted in favour of the proposal and the majority of vo... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A referendum proposal was voted on by the electors of Australia - VCE - SSCE Legal Studies - Question 3 - 2016 - Paper 1
Step 2
Justify your answer.
Answer
The referendum proposal does not meet the criteria set out in section 128 of the Constitution, which requires a double majority for a referendum to pass. This means that two conditions must be satisfied: (1) a majority of voters in Australia must support the proposal, and (2) a majority of voters in a majority of states must also support it.
In this case, the majority of voters across Australia did vote in favour (56%). However, the requirement for the majority of voters in a majority of the states was not met since only three states (Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia) had a majority voting in favour. This is less than the required majority of four out of six states.
Thus, given that the second part of the double majority requirement was not satisfied, the referendum was not passed.