A REFERENDUM is one of the most important events in Australia’s political sphere, as it is the only legal way to make changes to our national Constitution.

At the Federal level, laws are enacted, debated, repealed, and amended by legislators, our elected representatives (MPs) in the Lower House in Canberra, and their counterparts in the Senate, or Upper House.

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However, nothing the legislators enact can be incorporated into the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, that is, not without the direct say-so of the people, ourselves.

The Parliamentary Education Office clearly illustrates six main steps to changing the Constitution.

First, both houses of parliament must debate and pass a bill for the Constitutional change, much like a regular law.

Second, the change must be divided into two clear camps, one in favour of the change (‘yes’ camp), the other against (‘no’ camp), and the case for each side must be written down.

Third, the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ cases must be published in an official pamphlet from the Australian Electoral Commission, with a maximum word count of 2000 words for each case, these days available online as well.

Fourth, all voting Australians must go to the polling places, where votes are cast by reading a question, and then choosing either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in answer to that question.

Fifth, the votes are counted, and if the “yes” case has both (1) a national majority of voters and; (2) a majority of states, the change is carried, while anything less is a failure.

If the two ‘yes’ criteria are met, the Governor-General signs the original bill, and the Constitution is changed.

Of the 44 referenda that have occurred in Australia’s history, only 8 have passed, making for a one-in-five success rate, with many failing just as much for the wording of the question as any other reason.

The AEC keeps a list of these referenda and results online at (https://www.aec.gov.au/elections/referendums/referendum_dates_and_results.htm), which is interesting reading for the diligent democratic citizen.

By Thomas O’KEEFE