New song for Aust., but main proposal lost

Press, 23 May 1977, Page 8

New song for Aust., but main proposal lost

NZPA-Reuter Canberra Australians have rejected | a proposed constitutional I change to allow for simultaneous elections for the House of Representatives I and the Senate. Despite overwhelming i support for the proposal on I a national basis, three states ( — Western Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania — voted against it. : At the close of counting i last night, the “no” vote in (Western Australia was 52 ' per cent, in Tasmania 66.3 'per cent, and in Queensland (52.7 per cent. Under the referendum system the constitution can be (changed only with the supI port of most electors in most States. But Australians did record an historic vote to allow a ! record three referendum pro- 1!

; jposals to be passed at one'; itime. ] Just over 6.7 million i 1 voters supported moves to i ; change the constitution to I allow Federal judges to be J . | retired at 70 years, for resi-' i ’ dents in the territories to < vote in referendums, and forj casual Senate vacancies to 1 Ibe filled by a member of the jt I same party as the elected ' senator. t The Prime Minister (MrMalcolm Fraser), said that, t although it would be some 1 time before the final result, ;i it now seemed unlikely that the simultaneous election e proposal would have the re- e quisite majority of four e : states. E He said this was so even though most Australians had s registered their support for 5 it. S The Federal Opposition IE Leader (Mr Gough Whitlam) ihas called on Mr Fraser to it t

'hold a General Election in ! May, next year. ; Mr Whitlam said, that the; overwhelming view of Aus-1 tralians was that House of Representatives and Senate, elections should be held; simultaneously. At the close of counting last night 62.2 per cent of those who had polled had voted for simultaneous elections, but only three states — New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia — had recorded a clear majority. Mr Fraser, before the ref- i erendums were held, threatened to call a half Senate 1 election in August before the ] Budget was brought down. However, Mr Whitlam J says that he does not think ; Mr Fraser will hold the half ‘ Senate election before the Budget. His view is that the 1 * House of Representatives t R

.'cannot be held this year because a proposed dis- ! tribution would not be in ! effect. In 32 previous referendum (Proposals since Federation 1)77 years ago, only five have (been agreed to. The country’s voters also recorded their choice at the week-end for a national song. The final outcome of this' has not yet been determined, but it appears likely that “Advance Australia Fair” I will become the national ' tune. Out of more than 6.6 mil-; lion votes recorded in the poll at the close of counting “Advance Australia Fair” had 2.5 million votes, compared with 1.6 million for “Waltzing Matilda.” “God Save the Queen” and “Song of Australia” recorded only a small percentage of the votes. ,i