FACT SHEET 15

Aboriginal Citizenship and the Right to Vote

All men including Aboriginal men in South Australia had the right to vote from 1857. The Northern Territory became a Territory administered by South Australia from 1863. Aboriginal women under South Australian law had the right to vote from 1894.

The Northern Territory was administered as part of South Australia until 1911. The rights of people living in the State of South Australia applied to all Territorians.

South Australian Aboriginal voting rights were protected in the Australian Constitution by Section 41 which provides that all people who had State votes should also have Commonwealth votes.

Even when the Commonwealth enacted a law in 1902 to set up uniform voting rights across Australia which banned Aboriginal people from being enrolled to vote, Section 41 meant Aboriginal people already enrolled in a State could vote in a Commonwealth election.

However, the interpretation of this 1902 Act by the Commonwealth Solicitor General in effect meant only Aboriginal people enrolled in States prior to the new Commonwealth law in 1902 were still allowed to vote in Commonwealth elections.

When Territorians could finally vote again in a federal election in 1922 as the first Territory representative was elected to Federal Parliament, Aboriginal Territorians were excluded.

The 1948 Nationality and Citizenship Act in theory made Aboriginal people Australian citizens, because they were born in Australia. There was still no right to vote in Commonwealth elections and in the Northern Territory no right for Aboriginals to vote in the newly implemented Legislative Council elections.
In the Northern Territory the Federal Government had responsibility for the electoral roll for the House of Representatives and the Territory's Legislative Council. The Electoral Regulations provided that Aboriginals could not enrol or vote if they were wards as defined by the Welfare Ordinance. In the Territory Gazette nearly all Aboriginals were declared wards before they attained voting age. In August 1960 the Minister for Territories, advised that 15 277 persons had been declared wards, all except one being Aboriginal
In October 1961 a Select Committee on voting rights of Aboriginals, reported that some 17 000 Aboriginal people were declared wards in the Northern Territory. It recommended that the Commonwealth Electoral Act be amended to provide that the right to vote at Federal elections be accorded to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults.
The right to vote finally came in 1962 for all Aboriginal Australians.
In 2005 the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly has 5 members with Aboriginal heritage out of a total of 25 Members.