1946 Australian referendum (Social Services)

Australian referendum about social services October 2021 October 2021 1946 Australian Commonwealth Power in Social Affairs referendum Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled —"Constitution Alteration (Social Services) 1946" ? 1946 09 28 y Australia 2,297,934 1,927,148 228,859 4,739,853 The Constitution Alteration (Social Services) Bill 1946, was a successful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to give the Commonwealth power over a range of social services. The question was put to a referendum in the 1946 Australian referendum with two other (unrelated) questions. It was carried and inserted exist Section 51(xxiiiA) of the Constitution of Australia s51(xxiiiA) into section 51 of the Australian Constitution. Question Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Social Services) 1946'? Proposed Changes to the Constitution Section 51 of the Australian Constitution grants the commonwealth legislative power. Prior to this amendment the only social services provision was s51(xxiii) that gave power to legislate for invalid and old-age pensions. The proposal was to introduce s51(xxiiiA), which reads:Cth num_act cas1946811946444 Constitution Alteration (Social Services) 1946. (xxiiiA) the provision of maternity allowances, widows' pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorize any form of civil conscription), benefits to students and family allowances; Background Federal legislation already existed on a number of these issues despite the lack of a clear constitutional basis: child endowment payments were introduced in 1941, widow's pensions in 1942, and unemployment benefits in 1945. These payments were based on the spending power (s81). However, in the first Pharmaceutical Benefits Case constitutional questions were raised about the validity of Commonwealth social security legislation based on s81. The High Court held that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Act 1944, which sought to introduce a scheme of subsidised medications, was unconstitutional because it was not supported by a section 51 head of power and could not be supported by s81.HCA 30 1945 Attorney-General (Vic) ex rel Dale v Commonwealth (First Pharmaceutical Benefits) (1945) 71 CLR 237.Zines Leslie Leslie Zines https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLRev/1976/5.html The Australian Constitution 1951-1976 Federal Law Review 1976 7 2 89–144 10.1177/0067205X7600700201 159179429 subscription (1976) 7(2) Federal Law Review 89. The amendment was therefore intended to clarify and enshrine the existence of a power that was already being exercised and received bipartisan support. This perhaps explains why this amendment was carried, given that it was already accepted as an area of Commonwealth activity. In addition, a "no" vote could have ended welfare programs from which voters were benefiting. Civil conscription Compulsory military service had existed in Australia since the passage of the Defence Act 1903, however this was restricted to times of war and to service within Australia.Cth num_act da190320190383 Defence Act 1903 sections 59-61. Thus the proposal in the 1916 and 1917 conscription referendums were that the parliament exercise the power to conscript civilians for military service outside Australia.http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs161.aspx Conscription referendums, 1916 and 1917 – Fact sheet 161 National Archives of Australia https://web.archive.org/web/20160705142652/http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs161.aspx 5 July 2016 dead In 1920 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Emergency Powers Act 1920 which stated that the regulations could not impose "any form of compulsory military service or industrial conscription".https://www.statewatch.org/news/2003/june/statewatch-news-online-uk-civil-contingencies-bill-previous-acts-of-parliament/ Emergency Powers Acts 1920 and 1964 and Civil Protection in Peacetime Act 1986 Statewatch News online 2021-10-20 The exclusion of "industrial conscription" was picked up in Australia in the Public Safety Preservation Act 1923 (Vic),Vic hist_act pspa1923298 Public Safety Preservation Act 1923 section 7. the Section 5 of the National Security Act 1939 (Cth)https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1939A00015 National Security Act 1939 (Cth) legislation.gov.au 2021-10-20 section 5. and the National Emergency Act 1941 (NSW).NSW num_act nea1941n1212 National Emergency Act 1941 section 8. The exclusion of conscription was not part of the government bill, unlike the Constitution Alteration (Industrial Employment) Bill which excluded "any form of industrial conscription".https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/billshistorical/HBILL194345V200055/upload_binary/055 - CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT) Bill 1946.pdf Constitution Alteration (Industrial Employment) Bill 1946 (Cth). The Leader of the Opposition, Robert Menzies, criticised the social services proposal as including the power to nationalize the medical and dental professions "by making all doctors and dentists members of one government service which had a monopoly of medical and dental treatment".Commonwealth of Australia House of Representatives Constitution Alteration (Social Services) Bill 1946: Second Reading https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/hansard80/hansardr80/1946-04-03/toc_pdf/19460403_reps_17_186.pdf 3 April 1946 900 Robert Menzies Leader of the Opposition 4 days later Menzies proposed that the words "(but not so as to authorize any form of civil conscription)" be added to the bill, stating that he had borrowed the form of words from the Industrial Employment Bill, and the amendment was accepted by the government as protecting the medical and dental professions from conscription.Commonwealth of Australia House of Representatives Constitution Alteration (Social Services) Bill 1946: Second Reading https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/hansard80/hansardr80/1946-04-09/toc_pdf/19460409_reps_17_186.pdf 10 April 1946 1215 1216 Robert Menzies Leader of the Opposition Results + ResultHandbook State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal Vote % Vote % New South Wales 1,858,749 1,757,150 897,887 54.00 764,723 46.00 94,540 Victoria 1,345,537 1,261,374 671,967 55.98 528,452 44.02 60,955 Queensland 660,316 612,170 299,205 51.26 284,465 48.74 28,500 South Australia 420,361 399,301 197,395 51.73 184,172 48.27 17,734 Western Australia 300,337 279,066 164,017 62.26 99,412 37.74 15,637 Tasmania 154,553 144,880 67,463 50.58 65,924 49.42 11,493 Armed forcesArmed forces totals are also included in their respective states.   37,021 22,824   13,211   986 Total for Commonwealth 4,739,853 4,453,941 2,297,934 54.39 1,927,148 45.61 228,859 Results Obtained majority in six states and an overall majority of 370,786 votes. Carried Discussion This was the fourth of eight referendum questions which have been passed 2021 October y.Handbook After the amendment the Social Services Consolidation Act 1947 was passed. In addition the Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme, held unconstitutional in the Pharmaceutical Benefits case, was reintroduced and passed as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Act 1947.Cth num_act C1947A00033 Pharmaceutical Benefits Act 1947. Subsequent consideration The meaning of the exception of "civil conscription" was considered by the High Court in General Practitioners Society v Commonwealth where Justice Gibbs took a narrow view of the exception, holding that civil conscription, in the context of medical and dental services, "refers to any sort of compulsion to engage in practice as a doctor or a dentist or to perform particular medical or dental services" and distinguished that from the permissible "regulation of the manner in which a service is performed" if the benefit is to be obtained".HCA 30 1980 General Practitioners Society v Commonwealth (1980) 145 CLR 532 at p. 557. The High Court conducted an extensive review of what amounts to civil conscription in Wong v Commonwealth, holding that the Medicare system did not amount to civil conscription of doctors "because doctors do not compulsorily provide service for the Commonwealth, or for other bodies on the Commonwealth’s behalf. The Act does not force doctors to treat or not treat particular patients. Doctors are free to choose where and when they practise".HCA 3 2009 Wong v Commonwealth (2009) 236 CLR 573 https://cdn.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgment-summaries/2009/hca3-2009-02-02.pdf Judgment summary High Court 2 February 2009 2021-10-20 See also Politics of Australia History of Australia References Handbook Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22handbook%2Fnewhandbook%2F2014-10-31%2F0049%22 Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results Parliamentary Library of Australia Further reading Austats Special Article on the History of Pensions and other Benefits in Australia Standing Committee on Legislative and Constitutional Affairs (1997) Constitutional Change: Select sources on Constitutional change in Australia 1901–1997 https://web.archive.org/web/20110605092632/http://www.aph.gov.au/HOUSE/committee/laca/Inquiryinconch.htm 5 June 2011 . Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra. Bennett, Scott (2003). Research Paper no. 11 2002–03: The Politics of Constitutional Amendment https://web.archive.org/web/20120216200422/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/2002-03/03RP11.htm 16 February 2012 Australian Department of the Parliamentary Library, Canberra. Australian Electoral Commission (2007) Referendum Dates and Results 1906 – Present AEC, Canberra.   ! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #cccccc" | Amendments to the Constitution of Australia |- | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | 3rd amendment2nd state debts amendment (1928) Social services amendment 1928 | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | 5th amendmentAboriginals (1967) 1906 Referendum Referendum Category:1946 referendums Category:Amendments to the Constitution of Australia Category:Pension referendums Category:Constitutional referendums in Australia Category:Aftermath of World War II in Australia