Strengths and weaknesses of referendums changing law-making powers

Change in the division of law-making powers: Referendums are introduced by the Commonwealth Government and are therefore aimed at moving power from the states to the Commonwealth.

States' lack of power: The only action the states can take to stop the movement of power as a result of a referendum is to lobby strongly against the referendum and encourage the voters in their state to vote 'no.'

Compulsory vote: The views of the community as a whole are more likely to be represented in a referendum because voting is compulsory.

Timing: The focus of the referendum is lost to some extent when put to the people at the same time as an election. Costly: It is very closely to put a referendum to the people. The cost of the 1999 referendum was $66,820,894

One house can vote for a change twice for a referendum to be put to the people: A change to the Constitution, introduced by the Commonwealth Government, can be put to the people even if an opposition-strong Senate does not agree to it.

Bipartisan support: A referendum that does not have bipartisan support is unlikely to succeed. Voters generally vote according to their political preferences and the advice of their political party.

Protection of the Constitution: The lengthy process involved in changing the Constitution protects the Constitution from changes being proposed that have not been thoroughly considered and do not have overwhelming support.

Conservative: Many changes that appear to have merit may not be successful because people are often conservative when it comes to voting for change. Most changes that have been successful have related to minor changes to the Constitution. Voters are less willing to vote 'yes' to major changes, such as the 1999 Referendum to change Australia to a Republic.

The people can have their say: The Constitution can only be changed if a majority of the electors in Australia and a majority of electors in a majority of states vote yes to the change.

Distrust and lack of understanding: People may see a referendum as giving politicians more power and will therefore tend to vote 'no'. People may also find referendum proposals difficult to understand and therefore vote 'no.'

Protection of the smaller states: The double majority protects the smaller states from being dominated by the larger states because it is necessary to have a majority 'yes' vote in a majority of states. This allows for equal representation of the states.

Double majority: It is very difficult to achieve the double majority requirement. While 13 of the 44 referendum proposals received the support of a majority of Australian voters overall, five of these did not satisfy the majority of voters in a majority of states voting yes provision.