| 1988 Australian Local Government referendum | |
| A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to recognise local government. Do you approve of this proposed alteration? | |
| Country: | Australia |
| Yes: | 3,163,488 |
| No: | 6,248,166 |
| Invalid: | 126,071 |
| Electorate: | 10,362,959 |
| Outcome: | Not carried, A majority "no" vote nationally and in all six states. |
| Mapdivision: | federal electoral division |
| Notes: | Note: Saturation of colour denotes strength of vote |
The Constitution Alteration (Local Government) Bill 1988, was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to recognise local government. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 3 September 1988. The structure of the Constitution recognises government at federal and state levels, but makes no mention of local government.
The "no" campaign in 1988 argued that this change would undermine states' rights, i.e. that it would move – or make it possible to move – some power from state governments to local governments.
A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to recognise local government.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?The proposal was to add a new provision to the Constitution as follows :[1]
| State | Electoral roll | Ballots issued | align=center colspan="2" | For | align=center colspan="2" | Against | align=center rowspan="2" | Informal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center | Vote | align=center | % | align=center | Vote | align=center | % | ||
| New South Wales | 3,564,856 | 3,297,246 | 1,033,364 | 31.70 | 2,226,529 | 37,353 | |||
| Victoria | 2,697,096 | 2,491,183 | 882,020 | 36.06 | 1,563,957 | 45,206 | |||
| Queensland | 1,693,247 | 1,552,293 | 590,868 | 38.31 | 951,332 | 10,093 | |||
| South Australia | 937,974 | 873,511 | 256,421 | 29.85 | 602,499 | 14,591 | |||
| Western Australia | 926,636 | 845,209 | 247,830 | 29.76 | 584,863 | 12,516 | |||
| Tasmania | 302,324 | 282,785 | 76,707 | 27.50 | 202,214 | 3,864 | |||
| Australian Capital Territory | 166,131 | 149,128 | 58,755 | 39.78 | 88,945 | 60.22 | 1,428 | ||
| Northern Territory | 74,695 | 56,370 | 21,449 | 38.80 | 33,826 | 61.20 | 1,095 | ||
| Total for Commonwealth | 10,362,959 | 9,537,725 | 3,163,488 | 33.61 | 6,248,166 | 126,071 | |||
| Results | Obtained a majority in no state and an overall minority of 2,335,741 votes. Not carried | ||||||||
This was the second unsuccessful referendum on the subject of Local Government. The 1974 referendum on Local Government Bodies sought to allow the Commonwealth to grant financial assistance to local government bodies, and to borrow money on their behalf.