Section 128 of the Australian Constitution

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Section 128 of the Australian Constitution is the provision that sets out the formal process for altering the Constitution, requiring approval by both Parliament and a national referendum.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Section 128 of the Australian Constitution canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf constitutional provision
referendum provision
allows Governor-General to submit a proposed law to referendum if only one House passes it twice
appliesTo Commonwealth of Australia
all proposed alterations to the text of the Australian Constitution
condition interval of three months must elapse between the two passages by one House in the deadlock procedure
constitutionalStatus entrenched
country Australia
dateOfCommencement 1 January 1901
defines process for altering the Australian Constitution
effect if approved at referendum, the proposed law is presented to the Governor-General for the Queen’s assent
if not approved at referendum, the proposed law fails
enactedAsPartOf Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK)
enactedBy British Parliament
surface form: Parliament of the United Kingdom
governs method of changing constitutional rights and structures
method of changing the distribution of powers in the Constitution
hasInterpretationIssue meaning of majority of the States
treatment of Territory voters in the national majority
hasKeyConcept deadlock procedure between the Houses
double majority requirement
majority of States
national majority of voters
parliamentary initiation of amendments
referendum timing limits
language English
legalRequirement majority of all electors voting nationwide must approve the proposed law
majority of electors in a majority of the States must approve the proposed law
only States count towards the state majority, not Territories
proposed law must be passed by an absolute majority of each House of Parliament
referendum must be held not less than two months and not more than six months after passage of the proposed law
voters in Territories are counted in the national majority
locatedInJurisdiction Australia
partOf Australian Constitution
Australian Constitution
surface form: Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900
prohibits alteration of the Constitution by ordinary legislation alone
alteration of the Constitution without referendum approval
providesFor Governor-General to submit proposed law to referendum
special procedure if one House twice passes a proposed law and the other House rejects or fails to pass it
submission of proposed constitutional alterations to the electors
requires approval by the Parliament
double majority in a referendum
electoral franchise used for House of Representatives elections to be used for referendums
national referendum
scope federal constitutional amendments only
subject alteration of the Constitution
constitutional amendment procedure
referendums
usedFor all successful amendments to the Australian Constitution since 1901

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Section 24 of the Australian Constitution linkedTo Section 128 of the Australian Constitution