Media release

Writ for the 2023 referendum returned today

Updated: 6 November 2023

The Australian Electoral Commission has advised that the writ for the 2023 referendum has been returned to His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd) today, Monday 6 November.

The return of the writ is the formal confirmation of the result of the 2023 referendum. The AEC has conducted a count of ballot papers, and the mandatory secondary count (fresh scrutiny), required to achieve mathematical certainty of the result nationally, as well as in all six states.

The results of the vote in each of the territories is not part of the double majority outlined in the Constitution as the method for determining if a referendum is carried. Regardless, the results for each territory are also listed below.

Jurisdiction Result (yes or no) Yes No Informal
National No 6,286,894 (39.94%) 9,452,792 (60.06%) 155,545
New South Wales No 2,058,764 (41.04%) 2,957,880 (58.96%) 57,285
Queensland No 1,010,416 (31.79%) 2,167,957 (68.21%) 27,266
South Australia No 417,745 (35.83%) 748,318 (64.17%) 11,478
Tasmania No 152,171 (41.06%) 218,425 (58.94%) 3,967
Victoria No 1,846,623 (45.85%) 2,180,851 (54.15%) 39,038
Western Australia No 582,077 (36.73%) 1,002,740 (63.27%) 13,454
Australian Capital Territory Yes 176,022 (61.29%) 111,192 (38.71%) 2,237
Northern Territory No 43,076 (39.70%) 65,429 (60.30%) 820

The full results of the referendum are available via the AEC tally room. This includes vote counts by state/territory, electoral division and polling place. Other key information relating to the delivery of the referendum remains available on the AEC referendum website.