1913 Australian referendum

Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates The 1913 Australian referendum was held on 31 May 1913. It contained six referendum questions and was held in conjunction with the 1913 federal election.

Background

Having failed with the 1911 referendum, the Attorney-General, Billy Hughes, tried again, breaking each of the changes into separate questions. The changes were said to be necessary because the Commonwealth's powers had been cut down by successive decision of the High Court in applying the inter-governmental immunities and reserved state powers doctrines until they were said to be futile. The cases referred to by the Attorney-General were:<ref>Template:Cite Hansard</ref>

• Union label case (1908) - trade marks<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Huddart, Parker & Co Ltd v Moorehead (1909) - control of corporations<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• SS Kalibia v Wilson (1910) - navigation power<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Melbourne Steamship Co Ltd v Moorehead (1912) - trade & commerce power<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Railway servants Case (1906) - State railways employees could not be part of an interstate industrial dispute<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Jumbunna Coal Mine NL v Victorian Coal Miners’ Association (1908) - appeal from the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• R v Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration; Ex parte BHP (1909) - prohibition against the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Federated Sawmill Employees Association v James Moore & Sons Pty Ltd (1909) - federal award could not be inconsistent with a State wages board determination<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• Australian Boot Trade Employees' Federation v Whybrow & Co (1910) - Court of Conciliation and Arbitration could not make a common-rule award to prevent industrial disputes<ref>Template:Cite AustLII</ref>
• Federated Engine Drivers' & Firemen's Association of Australasia v Broken Hill Pty Co Ltd (1911) - a union in different industries could not be registered<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>
• R v Barger (1908) - the new Protection policy, in which protection was linked to paying fair & reasonable wages, was invalid<ref>Template:Cite AustLII.</ref>

The results

ResultsTemplate:Hsp<ref name="Handbook">Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web }}.</ref>
Question	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	States in favour	Voters in favour	Result
(6) Trade and Commerce	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
(7) Corporations	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
(8) Industrial Matters	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
(9) Trusts	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
(10) Nationalization of Monopolies	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
(11) Railway Disputes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No

Aftermath

Writs were issued for a further referendum to be held on 11 December 1915 to cover substantially the same questions as were rejected in 1911 and 1913,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> however the referendum was cancelled and the writs withdrawn.<ref>Template:Cite Legislation AU</ref>

See also

• Referendums in Australia
• Politics of Australia
• History of Australia

Further reading

• Template:Cite book Template:Cite book
• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}.

• Australian Electoral Commission (2007) Referendum Dates and Results 1906 – Present AEC, Canberra.

1. REDIRECT Template:Australian elections