On this day in 1977, a glimpse was provided into the referendum tallying process. Gathered in the tally room at Belconnen High School, Fred Daly, former Labor MP, was having conversations with reporters as the kept tabs on the referendum voting figures via a TV monitor.
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The referendum was based on allowing Australians living in territories to vote on future referendums. The results were empathically in favour of the motion with 77.22% voting yes. The ambience of the assembly hall in Belconnen High School was sedated to say the least.
Political journalists in the vicinity remarked on the vastly different atmosphere of the tally room when juxtaposed with the tally room during the Federal elections.
Special microphones were adopted by the Canberra radio station 2CC to block out any extra noise as the voice reports were being detailed. The dreary ambience made the microphones unnecessary. Chief electoral officer Keith Pearson anticipated a low turnout from the public.
The allocated seated area for the referendum barely contained 30 people with some of the members of public being invested Constitution watchers, family and their kids and people who simply wanted to escape the cold.
To top it off, the only politician present was Daly who was the only bit of 'colour' in the place, who was mobbed like an aging pop-star, providing some much needed humour. He said "if they let the crims have a vote, they'd sort out those judges". Voter turnout turned out to be very low, which could viewed as an indictment of the affair. The percentage vote in Canberra was 17.8 and 16.8 in Fraser.
This was the last time a referendum was successful. Australians have voted "Yes" in 13 referendum but only eight have been carried as the total national vote needed to exceed 50% and a majority of voters in the majority of states need to vote "Yes".
