whenever they were incurred. The state debts amendment was carried by a 'yes' vote of approximately 55 per cent, with only New South Wales in opposition. According to a historian of the Loan Council, this indicated that the nation had "decisively favoured a scheme on the basis of s. 105 to relieve the States of some of their financial burden". Despite the smooth passage of the amendment, it was more than a decade before the specifically endowed powers were used. The state debts amendment was important in giving greater potential flexibility to Chapter IV of the constitution, and became an important aspect of federal-state intergovernmental financial relations. Referendum results Question: Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (State Debts) 1909? Changes to the text of the constitution Deletion from Section 105 (removed text stricken): The Parliament may take over from the States their public debts as existing at the establishment of the Commonwealth, or a proportion thereof according to the respective numbers of their people as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, and may convert, renew, or consolidate such debts, or any part thereof; and the States shall indemnify the Commonwealth in respect of the debts taken over, and thereafter the interest payable in respect of the debts shall be deducted and retained from the portions of the surplus revenue of the Commonwealth payable to the several States, or if such surplus is insufficient, or if there is no surplus, then the deficiency or the whole amount shall be paid by the several States. See also Politics of Australia History of Australia References Further reading Standing Committee on Legislative and Constitutional Affairs (1997) Constitutional Change: Select sources on Constitutional change in Australia 1901–1997. Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra. Bennett, Scott (2003). Research Paper no. 11 2002–03: The Politics of Constitutional Amendment Australian Department of the Parliamentary Library, Canberra. Australian Electoral Commission (2007) Referendum Dates and Results 1906 – Present AEC, Canberra. |- ! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #cccccc" | Amendments to the Constitution of Australia |- | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | 1st amendmentSenate Elections amendment (1907) | style="width: 30%; text-align: center;" | 3rd amendment2nd State Debts amendment (1928) 1910 in Australia Amendments to the Constitution of Australia 1910 referendums Constitutional referendums in Australia