Editing Responsible government (section)

====Participation by women and indigenous people====
{{See also|Women's suffrage in Australia|Women's suffrage in New Zealand}}
White female suffrage (then considered universal suffrage) was gained from the 1890s to the 1910s in Australia and New Zealand (1893), allowing the other half of the ethnic European population to participate in responsible representative government.

In New Zealand, the indigenous Maori had full British citizenship following the 1840 [[Treaty of Waitangi]].

In Australia during the colonial period, some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may have theoretically had the right to vote in colonial elections. But, in practice they were usually unable to exercise this right: they lived traditional lifestyles in remote areas [[uncontacted people|uncontacted]] by the colony, or affected by the disruption of the [[Australian frontier wars|Frontier Wars]]. In addition, they often were excluded from voting by racial discrimination in practices or by property requirements.

After federation, the [[Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902|Commonwealth Franchise Act]] of 1902 barred Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from voting in federal elections unless they were already eligible to vote in their state. Queensland explicitly barred Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from voting until the 1960s, while Western Australia barred Aboriginal people unless they successfully applied to become citizens. As a result, most{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Aboriginal people across the country were prevented from voting, including those who in theory had the right. Later, the 1962 Commonwealth Electoral Act gave all Aboriginal people the option to enroll to vote, but still most were not able to exercise their rights.

After passage of the [[1967 Australian referendum (Aboriginals)|1967 Australian referendum]], the federal government was allowed to count Indigenous Australians in the census, and to ensure that their voting rights were respected across the country.