1933 Western Australian secession referendum information
1933 Western Australian secession referendum
8 April 1933[1]
Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth established under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Imperial)?
Results
Choice
Votes
%
Yes
138,653
66.23%
No
70,706
33.77%
Valid votes
209,359
96.33%
Invalid or blank votes
7,967
3.67%
Total votes
217,326
100.00%
Registered voters/turnout
237,198
91.62%
Are you in favour of a Convention of Representatives of equal number from each of the Australian states being summoned for the purpose of proposing such alterations in the Constitution of the Commonwealth as may appear to such Convention to be necessary?
Results
Choice
Votes
%
Yes
88,275
42.58%
No
119,031
57.42%
Valid votes
207,306
95.43%
Invalid or blank votes
9,928
4.57%
Total votes
217,234
100.00%
Registered voters/turnout
237,198
91.58%
The 1933 Western Australian secession referendum was held on 8 April 1933 on the question of whether the Australian state of Western Australia should leave the Australian federation. Nearly two-thirds of electors voted in favour of secession, but efforts to implement the result proved unsuccessful.
The Western Australian secession movement emerged soon after the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901. Existing grievances over the impacts of the federal constitution and the federal government's economic policies were exacerbated by the Great Depression. The Dominion League of Western Australia was established in 1930 to lobby for secession, with leading campaigners including newspaper editor James MacCallum Smith and businessman Keith Watson. Their efforts led state premier James Mitchell to legislate for a secession referendum in 1932, although the vote was not binding on either the state government or the federal government.
The referendum saw a turnout of 91.6 percent of registered voters, with 66.2 percent voting in favour of secession. A second question on whether a national constitutional convention should be held was rejected by 57.4 percent of voters. The referendum was held simultaneously with the 1933 Western Australian state election, with Mitchell losing office to Philip Collier, who opposed secession. Collier's government nonetheless passed the Secession Act 1934, which authorised a delegation to petition the parliament of the United Kingdom for an amendment to the Australian constitution, which had originally been passed as a British act of parliament. A parliamentary joint select committee ultimately ruled that the Statute of Westminster 1931 had rendered the British parliament powerless to unilaterally amend the constitution.
^"1933—Secession Referendum". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
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