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1913 Australian referendum (Corporations)

Field	Value
name	Australian Corporations referendum, 1913
title	Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled —
"Constitution Alteration (Corporations) 1912" ?
date
country	Australia
yes	960,711
no	986,824
invalid	83,235
electorate	2,760,216

"Constitution Alteration (Corporations) 1912" ? The Constitution Alteration (Corporations) Bill 1912, was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to extend the Commonwealth legislative power in respect to corporations that was put to voters for approval in a referendum held in 1913.

Issues

Question

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Corporations) 1912"?

Proposed Changes to the Constituation

The proposal was to alter the text of section 51 of the Constitution to read as follows: (removed text stricken through; substituted text in bold)

51. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have Legislative power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: :(xx.) Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth: ::**Corporations, including** :::**(a) the creation, dissolution, regulation, and control of corporations;** :::**(b) corporations formed under the law of a State, including their dissolution, regulation, and control; but not including municipal or governmental corporations, or any corporation formed solely for religious, charitable, scientific, or artistic purposes, and not for the acquisition of gain by the, corporation or its members; and** :::**(c) foreign corporations, including their regulation and control:**

Results

State	Electoral roll	Ballots issued	For	Against	Informal	Vote
1,036,187	717,855	317,668	46.79	361,255		37,676
830,391	626,861	298,479	49.14	308,915		19,139
363,082	280,525	146,936		123,632	45.69	9,736
244,026	195,463	96,309		91,273	48.66	7,664
179,784	132,149	66,595		59,445	47.16	5,776
106,746	80,398	34,724	45.08	42,304		3,244
2,760,216	2,033,251	960,711	49.33	986,824		83,235
Obtained majority in three states and an overall minority of 26,113 votes. Not carried

Discussion

The 1911 referendum asked a single question that dealt with trade and commerce, corporations and industrial matters. This resolution separated each of those matters into a different question. Like its forebear, none of these resolutions were carried. On each of the many occasions a similar question was asked at a referendum the public decided not to vest power in the Commonwealth over these matters.

1911 referendum on trade and commerce

References

"Constitution Alteration (Corporations) Bill 1912".
(25 April 1913). "Notification of the receipt of a Writ for a Referendum". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
{{cite AustLII. (1909). CLR. Commonwealth Law Reports 330]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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