Referendums Act 1997

This Act may be cited as the Referendums Act 1997.

The dictionary in schedule 3 defines particular words used in this Act.

The commission has the continuing function of making appropriate administrative arrangements for the conduct of referendums.

Note—See the Electoral Act 1992, section 7(1)(j).

The commission must conduct a referendum if the Governor issues a writ for a referendum to the commission under section 5.

The commission must conduct the referendum in accordance with the writ and this Act.

The Governor may issue a writ for a referendum if—

a Bill is to be submitted to the electors; or

the Legislative Assembly has resolved that a question be submitted to the electors.

A writ must be issued—

for a referendum to submit a Bill to the electors—in form 1; or

for a referendum to submit a question to the electors—in form 2.

A writ must state the following—

the day of its issue;

the cut-off day for electoral rolls for the referendum, which must be not less than 5 days, or more than 7 days, after its issue;

the polling day for the referendum, which must be a Saturday not less than 26 days, or more than 70 days, after its issue;

the return day for the writ, which must be not more than 84 days after its issue.

For deciding the cut-off day, polling day or return day, that day and the day of issue of the writ are both to be included in any number of days specified in subsection (2)(b) to (d).

Subsection (3) applies despite the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 38.

Subsection (2)(c) applies subject to another Act that has specific provision for the time for taking a poll for a particular referendum.

Editor’s note—See, for example, the Constitution Act 1867, section 53 and the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934, section 3.

There must be attached to the writ—

for a referendum to submit a Bill to the electors—a copy of the Bill; or

for a referendum to submit a question to the electors—a statement of the question.

On receiving a writ, the commission must—

publish a copy of the writ in the gazette; and

advertise the days stated in the writ in other ways the electoral commissioner considers appropriate; and

give a copy of the writ and the attached Bill or statement of the question to the returning officer of each electoral district; and

make available for inspection by anyone, without fee, a copy of the writ and the text of the attached Bill or question at offices of the commission and anywhere else the commission considers appropriate; and

make appropriate arrangements for the conduct of the referendum.

The Governor may by gazette notice—

substitute a later day for a day stated under section 6(2) in the writ for a referendum, either generally or for a stated electoral district; or

provide for anything to be done to overcome any difficulty that might otherwise affect the referendum.Example of subsection (1)(a)—If a writ for a referendum has issued and a writ for an election subsequently issues, the dates mentioned in section 6(2) may be extended to enable the polling day for the referendum and for the election to coincide.

A gazette notice substituting a cut-off day for electoral rolls or return day for the writ may be published before, on or after the cut-off day or return day stated in the writ.

A gazette notice substituting a polling day for a referendum—

must be published before the polling day stated in the writ; and

must not substitute a day for the polling day that is more than 21 days after the polling day stated in the writ.

This part provides mainly for the way arguments in favour of or against a Bill or question that is to be submitted to electors at a referendum (the Bill or question) are authorised by members and distributed or published by the commission.

An argument in favour of or against the Bill must be distributed or published by the commission under section 12 if the argument is—

not more than 1,000 words; and

authorised under subsection (2); and

forwarded to the commission by members within 4 weeks after the passage of the Bill.

The argument must be authorised by—

for an argument in favour of the Bill or an argument against the Bill, if all the members voting voted for the Bill—a majority of the members who wish to forward the argument to the commission; or

for an argument in favour of the Bill, if paragraph (a) does not apply—a majority of the members who voted for the Bill and wish to forward the argument to the commission; or

for an argument against the Bill, if paragraph (a) does not apply—a majority of the members who voted against the Bill and wish to forward the argument to the commission.

An argument in favour of or against the question must be distributed or published by the commission under section 12 if the Legislative Assembly resolves that the question be submitted to the electors and the argument is—

not more than 1,000 words; and

authorised under subsection (4); and

forwarded to the commission by members within 4 weeks after the Assembly’s resolution.

The argument must be authorised by—

for an argument in favour of a ‘yes’ answer or a ‘no’ answer to the question, if all the members voting voted in favour of the ‘yes’ answer—a majority of the members who wish to forward the argument to the commission; or

for an argument in favour of a ‘yes’ answer to the question, if paragraph (a) does not apply—a majority of the members who voted in favour of the ‘yes’ answer and wish to forward the argument to the commission; or

for an argument in favour of a ‘no’ answer to the question, if paragraph (a) does not apply—a majority of the members who voted against the ‘yes’ answer and wish to forward the argument to the commission.

If—

an argument is forwarded to the commission under section 11; and

a majority of the members who authorised the argument ask the commission to post the argument to each elector;

the commission must, not later than 14 days before the polling day for the referendum, print and post to each elector a pamphlet containing the argument and, if another argument was forwarded to the commission under section 11, the other argument.

Also, the commission must publish any argument forwarded to it under section 11—

at least twice before the polling day for the referendum in a newspaper circulating throughout the State, including on the day before the polling day; and

on the commission’s website.

If more than 1 argument is required to be published under subsection (2), the arguments must be published at the same time.

If more than 1 argument is published in the same pamphlet or newspaper, the format and printing style used must not unfairly favour 1 argument.