1984 Australian referendum

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The 1984 Australian referendum was held on 1 December 1984. It contained two referendum questions, neither of which passed. [1] As of 2022, this is the last referendum in which any state voted in favour of a constitutional amendment.

Contents

Result [2]
Question NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas ACT [3] NT [3] States in favourVoters in favourResult
(37) Terms of Senators YesYesNoNoNoNoYesYes2:451%Not carried
(38) Interchange of Powers NoNoNoNoNoNoYesNo0:647%Not carried

The referendum was held in conjunction with the 1984 federal election.

Results in detail

Terms of Senators

This section is an excerpt from 1984 Australian referendum (Terms of Senators) § Results

An Act to change the terms of senators so that they are no longer of fixed duration and to provide that Senate elections and House of Representatives elections are always held on the same day.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

Result [2]
StateElectoral rollBallots issuedForAgainstInformal
Vote %Vote %
New South Wales3,423,6243,216,2561,621,89452.861,446,15047.14148,212
Victoria2,617,2912,475,8911,244,45153.201,094,76046.80136,680
Queensland1,549,7491,447,284642,76845.65765,32954.3539,187
South Australia908,424856,226398,12749.98398,46350.0259,636
Western Australia858,763806,637358,50246.47412,99653.5335,139
Tasmania289,142277,100102,76239.29158,77760.7115,561
Australian Capital Territory150,416140,98276,90156.6858,76443.325,317
Northern Territory68,85758,66828,31051.8726,26548.134,093
Total for Commonwealth9,866,2669,279,0444,473,71550.644,361,50449.36443,825
ResultsObtained a majority in two states and an overall majority of 112,211 votes.Not carried

Interchange of Powers

This section is an excerpt from 1984 Australian referendum (Interchange of Powers) § Results

An Act to enable the Commonwealth and the States voluntarily to refer powers to each other.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

Result [2]
StateElectoral rollBallots issuedForAgainstInformal
Vote %Vote %
New South Wales3,423,6243,216,2561,475,97149.041,533,79950.96206,486
Victoria2,617,2912,475,8911,139,56549.861,146,13650.14190,190
Queensland1,549,7491,447,284578,67441.69809,24958.3159,361
South Australia908,424856,226355,58845.94418,43354.0682,205
Western Australia858,763806,637336,18444.28423,02255.7247,431
Tasmania289,142277,10087,93334.65165,87865.3523,289
Australian Capital Territory150,416140,98274,74156.1058,48743.907,754
Northern Territory68,85758,66825,68447.7828,06652.224,918
Total for Commonwealth9,866,2669,279,0444,074,34047.064,583,07052.94621,634
ResultsObtained a majority in no state and an overall minority of 508,730 votes.Not carried

See also

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References

  1. Lindell, Geoffrey; Bennett, R. L. (1 December 2001). Parliament: The Vision in Hindsight. Federation Press. pp. 235–. ISBN   9781862874060 . Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.
  3. 1 2 Following the 1977 referendum, votes cast in the territories count towards the national total, but are not counted toward any state total.

Further reading