Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902
Encyclopedia
The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was an Act
of the Parliament of Australia
which defined who was allowed to vote in Australian federal elections
. The Act granted Australian women the right to vote at a national level, and to stand for election to the Parliament. The Act meant that Australia was the second country, after New Zealand
, to grant women's suffrage
at a national level, and the first country to allow women to stand for Parliament. However, the Act also prevented Indigenous Australians
, Asian people
, African people
and Pacific Islander
s (except New Zealand Maori
) from voting.
, which provided that any person who was enrolled and eligible to vote in a State election
could also vote in a federal election. Each state
had a different system, with different criteria to determine who could vote. In South Australia and Western Australia, women could vote, and in Western Australia and Queensland
, Indigenous people were specifically barred from voting. The Act was intended to provide a uniform system of voting across the country. The original bill
was introduced into the Senate by Senator Hon Richard O'Connor
, the Vice-President of the Executive Council
, and later in the House of Representatives by the Minister for Home Affairs, Sir William Lyne
. It is unusual for being one of the few major pieces of legislation
to be introduced in the Senate before the House.
was based on the number of male voters in each state, it was possible that later distributions could proportionally increase the number of seats given to South Australia and Western Australia, since they had proportionally more enrolled voters than their percentage of the population.
Many politicians were concerned that allowing women to vote would discriminate in favour of married men, since, in the words of Sir Edward Braddon
, "the married man, happy in his family, whose wife's vote is one which he can command… will have two votes." Others, such as William Sawers
, were worried that because there were more women living in the cities, rural areas would become under-represented. Much of the opposition to the granting of women's suffrage in the Act was grounded in the belief that, in the words of William Knox, "the main ambition of a woman's life should be to become the wife of an honorable and honest man." However, there was much support for granting the vote to women, and the bill was approved by large majorities in both houses of Parliament.
, or at least the ideas behind it, had been very strong since long before Federation
. Although the Immigration Restriction Act 1901
was established to prevent non-white people from migrating to Australia, significant numbers of foreign citizens, particularly Chinese people who migrated during the Victorian gold rush
, were already living in Australia, and many politicians were keen to prevent them from having any political influence. Politicians also wanted to prevent Indigenous people from voting. Although Indigenous men had the right to vote everywhere except Western Australia and Queensland, and Indigenous women also had the right to vote in South Australia, this was not because it had explicitly been given to them, but because it had not explicitly been denied to them.
Preventing non-white people from voting was an idea grounded in the philosophy of eugenics
and scientific racism
, which were popular ideas at the time. Whereas most Indigenous peoples were excluded from voting, Māori living in Australia were allowed to vote. During the parliamentary debates over the Act, King O'Malley
(a radical and "colourful" politician) said that "An Aboriginal is not as intelligent as a Māori. There is no scientific evidence that he is a human being at all."
could vote in a federal election.
Section four made a range of disqualifications from the general definition in section three. People who had at any time been convicted of treason
could not vote. A person who was under sentence or awaiting sentence for any offence which could be punished by imprisonment
for one year or longer (under the law of Australia, or of the United Kingdom, or of any other Dominion
of the Empire) was also not allowed to vote. People of "unsound mind" were also disqualified. Indigenous people from Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands
, with the exception of Māori, were also excluded. India
n people were therefore not allowed to vote, even though they were citizens of the British Empire.
Section 44 of the Constitution disqualified a range of people from being elected to the House of Representatives
or the Senate
, such as any person with an allegiance to a foreign power (such as a citizen of another country), or anyone who was bankrupt or insolvent. However, these people were not prevented from voting by the Act.
Section five provided that no person could vote more than once at each election.
. In 1911, it became compulsory for all eligible voters to enrol on the Electoral Roll, although full compulsory voting
was not introduced until 1924. Compulsory enrolment nevertheless led to a large increase in voter turnout
, even though voting was still voluntary.
In 1918 the Act was repealed and replaced by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
. Many of the important features of the Australian electoral system
were not introduced until after the new Act was in force. Instant-runoff voting
was introduced for the House of Representatives in 1918, the Single Transferable Vote
was introduced for the Senate in 1949, and the qualifying age for voting was lowered to 18 in 1973. Indigenous Australians were not granted the right to vote at a federal level until 1962.
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
of the Parliament of Australia
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
which defined who was allowed to vote in Australian federal elections
Elections in Australia
Australia elects a legislature the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia using various electoral systems: see Australian electoral system. The Parliament consists of two chambers:...
. The Act granted Australian women the right to vote at a national level, and to stand for election to the Parliament. The Act meant that Australia was the second country, after New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, to grant women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
at a national level, and the first country to allow women to stand for Parliament. However, the Act also prevented Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
, Asian people
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
, African people
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
and Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
s (except New Zealand Maori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
) from voting.
History of the Act
Before the Act, Australia had no uniform system of voting. The first federal election in 1901 was governed by Section 41 of the Constitution of AustraliaConstitution of Australia
The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...
, which provided that any person who was enrolled and eligible to vote in a State election
Electoral systems of the Australian states and territories
The legislatures of the Australian states and territories all follow the Westminster model described in the Australian electoral system. When the Australian colonies were granted responsible government in the nineteenth century, their constitutions provided for legislative assemblies elected by...
could also vote in a federal election. Each state
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
had a different system, with different criteria to determine who could vote. In South Australia and Western Australia, women could vote, and in Western Australia and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Indigenous people were specifically barred from voting. The Act was intended to provide a uniform system of voting across the country. The original bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
was introduced into the Senate by Senator Hon Richard O'Connor
Richard O'Connor (Australian politician)
Richard Edward O'Connor, QC , Australian politician and judge, was a member of the first federal ministry.-Biography:...
, the Vice-President of the Executive Council
Vice-President of the Executive Council
The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....
, and later in the House of Representatives by the Minister for Home Affairs, Sir William Lyne
William Lyne
Sir William John Lyne KCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales and a member of the first federal ministry.-Early life:...
. It is unusual for being one of the few major pieces of legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
to be introduced in the Senate before the House.
Women's suffrage
Because of Section 41 of the Constitution, women in South Australia and Western Australia could not possibly be prevented from voting at federal elections. Although the original distribution between the states of seats in the House of RepresentativesAustralian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
was based on the number of male voters in each state, it was possible that later distributions could proportionally increase the number of seats given to South Australia and Western Australia, since they had proportionally more enrolled voters than their percentage of the population.
Many politicians were concerned that allowing women to vote would discriminate in favour of married men, since, in the words of Sir Edward Braddon
Edward Braddon
Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon, KCMG , Australian politician, was the Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives...
, "the married man, happy in his family, whose wife's vote is one which he can command… will have two votes." Others, such as William Sawers
William Sawers
William Bowie Stewart Campbell Sawers was a Scottish-born Australian politician. Born in Stirlingshire in Scotland, where he was educated, he migrated to Australia in 1865, becoming a grazier with large holdings...
, were worried that because there were more women living in the cities, rural areas would become under-represented. Much of the opposition to the granting of women's suffrage in the Act was grounded in the belief that, in the words of William Knox, "the main ambition of a woman's life should be to become the wife of an honorable and honest man." However, there was much support for granting the vote to women, and the bill was approved by large majorities in both houses of Parliament.
Non-white people
The White Australia policyWhite Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
, or at least the ideas behind it, had been very strong since long before Federation
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...
. Although the Immigration Restriction Act 1901
Immigration Restriction Act 1901
The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which limited immigration to Australia and formed the basis of the White Australia policy. It also provided for illegal immigrants to be deported. It granted immigration officers a wide degree of discretion to prevent...
was established to prevent non-white people from migrating to Australia, significant numbers of foreign citizens, particularly Chinese people who migrated during the Victorian gold rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
, were already living in Australia, and many politicians were keen to prevent them from having any political influence. Politicians also wanted to prevent Indigenous people from voting. Although Indigenous men had the right to vote everywhere except Western Australia and Queensland, and Indigenous women also had the right to vote in South Australia, this was not because it had explicitly been given to them, but because it had not explicitly been denied to them.
Preventing non-white people from voting was an idea grounded in the philosophy of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
and scientific racism
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
, which were popular ideas at the time. Whereas most Indigenous peoples were excluded from voting, Māori living in Australia were allowed to vote. During the parliamentary debates over the Act, King O'Malley
King O'Malley
King O'Malley was an Australian politician. He was a member in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1896 to 1899, and the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917. O'Malley was also Minister for Home Affairs in the second and third Fisher Labor ministry...
(a radical and "colourful" politician) said that "An Aboriginal is not as intelligent as a Māori. There is no scientific evidence that he is a human being at all."
Provisions of the Act
The Act was originally very short, having only five sections. The main provision was section three, which provided that any person over 21 years of age, whether male or female, married or single, who:- had lived in Australia for at least the past six months, and
- was a natural born or naturalisedNaturalizationNaturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
subject of the British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
(independent Australian citizenship was not introduced until the Australian Citizenship Act 1948), and - was on the Electoral RollElectoral registerThe electoral roll is a listing of all those registered to vote in a particular area. The register facilitates the process of voting, helps to prevent fraud and may also be used to select people for jury duty...
in any federal electoral division
could vote in a federal election.
Section four made a range of disqualifications from the general definition in section three. People who had at any time been convicted of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
could not vote. A person who was under sentence or awaiting sentence for any offence which could be punished by imprisonment
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for one year or longer (under the law of Australia, or of the United Kingdom, or of any other Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
of the Empire) was also not allowed to vote. People of "unsound mind" were also disqualified. Indigenous people from Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
, with the exception of Māori, were also excluded. India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n people were therefore not allowed to vote, even though they were citizens of the British Empire.
Section 44 of the Constitution disqualified a range of people from being elected to the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
or the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
, such as any person with an allegiance to a foreign power (such as a citizen of another country), or anyone who was bankrupt or insolvent. However, these people were not prevented from voting by the Act.
Section five provided that no person could vote more than once at each election.
Changes to the Act
In 1906 the Act was amended to allow postal votingPostal voting
Postal voting describes the method of voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed or returned by post to electors, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system....
. In 1911, it became compulsory for all eligible voters to enrol on the Electoral Roll, although full compulsory voting
Compulsory voting
Compulsory voting is a system in which electors are obliged to vote in elections or attend a polling place on voting day. If an eligible voter does not attend a polling place, he or she may be subject to punitive measures such as fines, community service, or perhaps imprisonment if fines are unpaid...
was not introduced until 1924. Compulsory enrolment nevertheless led to a large increase in voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
, even though voting was still voluntary.
In 1918 the Act was repealed and replaced by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 replaced the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 which defined who was allowed to vote in Australian federal elections. The Commonwealth Electoral Act comprehensively rewrote the Franchise Act and introduced instant-runoff voting, known in Australia as Preferential...
. Many of the important features of the Australian electoral system
Australian electoral system
The Australian electoral system has evolved over nearly 150 years of continuous democratic government, and has a number of distinctive features including compulsory voting, preferential voting and the use of proportional voting to elect the upper house, the Australian Senate.- Compulsory voting...
were not introduced until after the new Act was in force. Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
was introduced for the House of Representatives in 1918, the Single Transferable Vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
was introduced for the Senate in 1949, and the qualifying age for voting was lowered to 18 in 1973. Indigenous Australians were not granted the right to vote at a federal level until 1962.