After they helped write the Australian Constitution at the end of the 19th century, Sir John Quick and Sir Robert Garran sought to make sure future generations understood the powerful in-built safeguards that would allow the document to be changed only in the most precise set of circumstances.

Referendums, which would require a difficult double majority of both states and voters, were envisaged in order “to prevent change being made in haste or by stealth”. The fathers of Federation wanted national popular votes “to encourage public discussion and to delay change until there is strong evidence that it is desirable, irresistible and inevitable”.