N.012
Australia Speaks No. 47
9.6.42
Abolition of State Governments is strongly favored in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and slightly favored in South Australia, according to a Gallup Poll taken in May. In Western Australia and Tasmania, however, abolitionists are in a minority.
During May, the interviewers for Australian Public Opinion Polls-the Gallup Poll of Australia-set out to find the public's answer to the question:-
"Should State Governments be abolished?"
Opinions were obtained in each State, according to population. People of all types, in a full range of localities, were included in the sample. Dr Gallup's long experience in America proves that results obtained by these "sample referendums" are reliable.
Of each 100 interviewed-
Attitudes of Labor Party supporters and non-Labor people were almost identical.
Most of the "undecided" and "no answer" votes occurred among women. For men only, the vote was 68 in favor of abolishing State Governments, and 20 against, with 12 undecided or unable to answer.
Age had no significant influence on the voting.
To ascertain whether the 60-in-the-100 who had voted in favor of abolishing State Governments were aware of the probable effects, they were also asked-
"Should the States hand over their powers to the Commonwealth, leaving minor matters to local councils, and State boards?"
Largely because of the reference to Boards, a few people answered "No," while one person in 10 could not give a definite answer. The "Yes" voters, however, represented 54-in-the-100 of the total cross-section interviewed, so it is evident that most of the abolitionists knew what was involved.
Voting in each State on the main question-"Should State Governments be Abolished?"-is tabulated below. A small proportion of the "abolish" vote in each State represents people who were unable to answer "yes" on the subsidiary question:-
| Abolish State Govts | Don't Abolish Them | No Opinion | |
| P.C. | P.C. | P.C. | |
| NSW | 72 | 10 | 18 |
| Qld | 65 | 17 | 18 |
| Vic | 57 | 18 | 25 |
| SA | 50 | 33 | 17 |
| Tas | 34 | 40 | 26 |
| WA | 35 | 48 | 17 |