Australian referendum, 1911 (Trade and Commerce)

Constitution Alteration (Legislative Powers) 1910 was an Australian referendum held in the 1911 referendums which sought to alter the Australian Constitution to extend the Commonwealth power in respect of trade and commerce, the control of corporations, labour and employment and combinations and monopolies. All of the proposed changes were contained within the one question.

Question

Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Legislative Powers) 1910'?

Results

Result

State	On rolls	Ballots issued	For		Against		Informal	Result
				%		%
New South Wales	868,194	384,188	135,968	36.11%	240,605	63.89%	7,396	No
Victoria	723,377	448,566	170,288	38.64%	270,390	61.36%	7,554	No
Queensland	293,003	162,135	69,552	43.75%	89,420	56.25%	3,002	No
South Australia	216,027	133,802	50,358	38.07%	81,904	61.93%	1,374	No
Western Australia	138,697	61,482	33,043	54.86%	27,185	45.14%	870	Yes
Tasmania	102,326	58,053	24,147	42.11%	33,200	57.89%	673	No
Total for Commonwealth	2,341,624	1,248,226	483,356	39.42%	742,704	60.58%	20,869	No
Obtained majority in one State and an overall minority of 259,348 votes.
Not carried

Discussion

This was the first of many times that similar questions were asked at a referendum. On every occasion the public decided not to vest power in the Commonwealth over these matters.