Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902

12 June 1902

The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 gave women over the age of 21 the right to vote in federal elections and stand for election to the Australian Parliament. Australia was the first country in the world to grant women these dual rights. This law granted people the right to vote in federal elections regardless of gender, marital status or property ownership.

The support for women’s suffrage – the right to vote – had grown in the lead up to Federation in 1901. Supporters of women’s suffrage argued that women should be able to take part in electing the people who make laws that affect them. They argued against the belief that women would neglect their homes and families if they were granted voting rights. Women’s suffrage organisations lobbied members of parliament by starting petitions, publishing leaflets, writing letters and organising rallies. In 1902, Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 which granted women the right to vote. 

However, the Act excluded all ‘aboriginal native[s] of Australia, Africa, Asia or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand’ from voting in federal elections unless they were allowed to vote in state elections. Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were excluded from voting in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and many were actively discouraged from voting in the other states. The right to vote in federal elections was not extended to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women until 1962.