Australians Vote to Retain the Monarchy in the 1999 Referendum

Two Questions

The 1999 referendum put two questions to voters. The first asked whether to alter the Constitution to establish Australia as a republic, with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament instead of a Governor-General representing the Queen. The second asked whether to add a new preamble to the Constitution. The republic model had been recommended by a constitutional convention held in Canberra in February 1998, to which delegates had been both elected and appointed.

The Rules for Changing the Constitution

Section 128 of the Australian Constitution sets out how it can be changed. A proposal must pass both houses of Parliament and then be approved by a double majority: a majority of voters across the country and a majority of voters in at least four of the six states. Voting in referendums is compulsory, as it is in federal elections. Of forty-four referendum proposals put to voters since 1901, eight had been approved before 1999.

The Result

The Australian Electoral Commission reported that the republic proposal received about 45 percent Yes and about 55 percent No. No state returned a majority for Yes. A majority voted Yes in the Australian Capital Territory, but territory votes count only toward the national total. The preamble proposal was defeated more heavily, with roughly 61 percent voting No. Turnout was about 95 percent.

The Campaigns

Prime Minister John Howard supported keeping the monarchy, while the Australian Republican Movement, led by Malcolm Turnbull, campaigned for the change. Supporters of a republic were themselves divided. Some preferred a president directly elected by the people, and a group campaigned against the proposal for that reason, alongside monarchists. The system established by the Constitution, with Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia, remained in place after the vote, and analysts have continued to write about the reasons for the result.

Referendums Since 1999

The 1999 vote is the most recent national vote in Australia on the question of a republic. In 2022 the federal government appointed an assistant minister for the republic. The next constitutional referendum was held on October 14, 2023, on a proposal to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through a body called the Voice. About 60 percent of voters rejected it, and it failed in every state. The proposed preamble, which Prime Minister Howard presented to Parliament, had been drafted with the help of the poet Les Murray. Parliament passed the republic bill in August 1999, and section 128 requires the vote to be held between two and six months after a bill has passed.