Country of Western Australia

[nathan2]

In 1933, they held a referendum for the state of Western Australia to seceede. Two-thirds of people voted "Yes". Obviously, the government did not let them do so. And there are still people wanting to do so to this day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australian_secession_referendum,_1933

What would happen if Western Australia seceeded to become its own country? One thing I know is that it would be the most sparsely populated indepentent country in the world, with 75% of people living in Perth.

 

[Cook]

In 1933, they held a referendum for the state of Western Australia to seceede. Two-thirds of people voted "Yes". Obviously, the government did not let them do so.

Discontent with the federal government in the West started in the early years of Federation and grew in the 1920s because it was strongly felt that Western Australia was being short changed by the East; the rest of the country benefited from the wests huge primary industry contributions, but the west received little in return; it was referred to then as the Cinderella State, and has been ever since. At the same time, the Commonwealth was dominated by Victoria and New South Wales, whose tariff policies aided the growth of industry in the East by made it hard for the west to export its primary produce to the world market. In 1925 the Federal government appointed a royal commissioner to investigate ways and means to improve the situation for the West. However, the commissioner, J. Entwistle, came to a rather surprising conclusion:

“In my opinion Western Australia should never have entered the Federation, but having done so, there is, I feel convinced, only one complete and satisfactory remedy for her present disabilities, viz., Secession.”

Entwistle’s conclusion was not welcomed by the Commonwealth government, nor did it have popular support in Western Australia; a Secession League was established in 1926 but it did not gain popularity.

That changed with the advent of the Great Depression when, as with everywhere else in the world, incumbent Australian governments found themselves being blamed for events far beyond their control and radical solutions (“radical solutions” being those too stupid to be considered in more prosperous times) were seriously considered for the first time.

In April 1933 things came to a head and a referendum was held in W.A. on the question of secession from the Commonwealth – with a turnout of 91 per cent of the electorate (voting was still non-compulsory), 68 per cent were in favour of Western Australia withdrawing from the Commonwealth. (Notably, the conservative state government at the time, which was in favour of secession, lost power to the anti-secession Labor Party the in the state election held on the same day; so people were in theory voting for secession but voting against the only people who would implement it – in reality this was the height of the Great Depression and voters weren’t voting for anything; they were mad as hell and voting against everyone they blamed for the mess – so a vote for secession was a vote against the politicians in Canberra.

http://en.wikipedia.org [/quote]

That is never a good source of information on anything. If you want to know more on West Australian secession go to:

http://www.ccentre.wa.gov.au/ResearchAndSeminarPapers/Secession/Pages/TheHistoryoftheSecessionMovementinWesternAustralia.aspx

And there are still people wanting to do so to this day.

Yes, they hold their annual general meeting in an old telephone box, and they only manage to half fill it.

What would happen if Western Australia seceeded to become its own country? One thing I know is that it would be the most sparsely populated indepentent country in the world, with 75% of people living in Perth.

Logically the question should be “What if Western Australia had not joined the Federal Commonwealth?” since there is no mechanism for Secession in the Australian Constitution.

Well for starters it would be an extremely wealthy independent nation; even in the early to mid-Twentieth Century when the Federal tariff system was obstructing exports and the Australian Pound was pegged at a rate that hindered exports the state was doing well and contributing more to the federal purse than it ever received back.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

This has come up several times before, unfortunately i cant cut and paste urls on my nook.

 

[nathan2]

Well for starters it would be an extremely wealthy independent nation; even in the early to mid-Twentieth Century when the Federal tariff system was obstructing exports and the Australian Pound was pegged at a rate that hindered exports the state was doing well and contributing more to the federal purse than it ever received back. [/QUOTE]

Do you think that if those mining regions that voted against secession were to stay part of Australia, that it would still be rich?

 

[Tonymecury]

Well for starters it would be an extremely wealthy independent nation; even in the early to mid-Twentieth Century when the Federal tariff system was obstructing exports and the Australian Pound was pegged at a rate that hindered exports the state was doing well and contributing more to the federal purse than it ever received back.

Its been pointed out many times that WA has an extreme internal deficit of trade - 80% of loading on the east west route is westbound.

 

[Cook]

Do you think that if those mining regions that voted against secession were to stay part of Australia, that it would still be rich?

Again, the way this would have been viable is in the West had never joined the federation in 1901; there was never any practicable moment when secession was going to happen. The oft repeated claim that the goldfields would have seceded from Perth if the state chose not to join the East overlooks one very basic and inescapable fact: Kalgoorlie’s water comes from the Mundaring Weir and there is no alternative source of water for them, without the water from the wier the goldfields would always have been terminally restricted in size. So the goldfields weren’t going anywhere.

Its been pointed out many times that WA has an extreme internal deficit of trade - 80% of loading on the east west route is westbound.

It has also been pointed out repetitively that Western Australia has always been an export state, shipping to overseas. It has also been pointed out repetitively that the West has always contributed more to the federal coffers that it has very received in return and has done so from the very beginning of Federation - hence the term Cinderella state – and that was despite a federal tariff system that hindered the very exports that provided that revenue stream; without Federation the West would have set its own trade policy, without those barriers and would have exported more.

 

[Flubber]

In April 1933...

Two questions...

How many times a month do you think you have to repost all this to explain yet again what happened during the "secession" vote?

Do you keep it in a handy text document so you can cut & paste it?

Thanks again for serving up a piping hot Reality Sandwichtm to the Usual Suspects.

 

[euromellows]

It would be interesting to speculate what would have happened if the Conservatives retained power at the 33' election. While I'm very confident secession ultimately would not have occurred, it would be a very tense situation and depend entirely on how far people were willing to push things. There is no legal mechanism for secession and if the State Government insisted on it, they would have to take illegal action to achieve it. Would they do so? The Governor could also dismiss the Government if necessary, that is another option to defuse the crisis.

I think the outcome would come down to who blinked first and I think the most likely result is some kind of negotiation where the Commonwealth eases up on trade barriers restricting WA's economy. That way both sides can claim a victory of sorts.