Māori voting rights in Australia

Maori voting rights in Australia have an unusual history compared to voting rights for other non-white minorities. Male Māori Australians were first given the vote through the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which specifically limited voting enrollment to persons of European descent, and aboriginal natives of New Zealand,[1] in an effort to allay New Zealand's concerns about joining the Federation of Australia.[2] During the parliamentary debates over the Act, leading Labor Party member King O'Malley supported the inclusion of Māori, and the exclusion of Aboriginal Australians, in the franchise, arguing that "An aboriginal is not as intelligent as a Māori."[3]

A contemporary cartoon portraying New Zealand's reaction to Australia's offer to join its Federation.

This anomalous condition remained in some jurisdictions (such as the Northern Territory) until 1962, when the Commonwealth Electoral Act superseded the earlier act.[4]

Prior to universal Australian Indigenous franchise, organisations such as the Australian Aborigines' League highlighted the inconsistencies in Australian law that allowed Māori voting rights (as well as old age and disability pensions, maternity bonuses and unemployment relief) but denied them to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.[5]

See also

References
  1. Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 (Cth) Archived 16 July 2005 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 30 July 2007
  2. Irving 1999, p. 403: "The 1891 draft of the Australian Constitution specified that 'aboriginal native(s)' would not be counted as part of the population. It was argued that this 'would have resulted in New Zealand's having one less seat in the House of Representatives than if Maori were counted in the New Zealand population.'"
  3. Commonwealth Franchise Bill, second reading. Australian House of Representatives Hansard. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  4. Indigenous Electoral Timeline, Australian Electoral Commission, Retrieved 30 July 2007
  5. Attwood & Markus 2004, p. 63.

Sources
  • Attwood, Bain; Markus, Andrew (2004). Thinking Black. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 0-85575-459-1.
  • Irving, Helen Dorothy (1999). The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57314-9.
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