socio-economic statuses as unemployment increased along with the increase of prices. Furthermore, Robertson argued that a major reason that this referendum did not pass was due to the Labor government’s insistence on posing two referendum questions at once. One question on government control over prices and one on incomes. Robertson asserted that "workers were torn between loyalty to the Labor Government and loyalty to the trade union movement." He believed that if one question had been asked, this would have allowed the government to gain some economic controls to manage inflation as there would have been less confusion and the public would have been less divided. For the Whitlam government, the failure of this referendum was a clear sign that no other referendum proposed by his government, succeeding the 1973 referendum, would have any hope of passing. This referendum ultimately served to affirm the notion that the Australian constitution is notoriously difficult to amend, and continued the history of failed referendums. Of the twenty seven referendums posed since Federation in 1901, the incomes referendum was the twenty second failed referendum. It also became the most unpopular referendum in Australian history, with the lowest amount of support from voters. Economic trajectory Inflation continued to escalate rapidly, exacerbated by a ‘wages explosion’ in 1974. Inflation levels peaked at 19 percent in 1974 and continued to remain at a high level for the next two decades. Economists, such as Richard Holden, in hindsight, view Whitlam’s increase in government spending after the failed referendum to be a large failing by the Labor government. Holden believed that Whitlam only served to worsen the inflation crisis and ‘wage price spiral’ at the time with his economic management. The rejection of Whitlam's 1973 income referendum gave way to later policies that attempted to manage the Australian economy such as the 1975 Wage Indexation Policy. This policy was in response to rapidly increasing wages and attempted to restrict any further growth. However, Bruce Hockman, former Chief Economist at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, argues that this indexation policy only ended up "locking in inflation in the long run". The Australian economy fell into a greater recession from 1982-83. See also Another question was put to the people on the same day, see 1973 Australian referendum (Prices). Referendums in Australia References Referendum (Incomes) 1973 referendums 1973 (Incomes) Gough Whitlam Australian constitutional law