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1984 Australian referendum (Terms of Senators)

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Australian Senator Terms referendum, 1984
1 December 1984 (1984-12-01)
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 of this proposed alteration?
OutcomeNot carried, A majority "yes" vote nationally, but in only two states.
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 4,473,715 50.64%
No 4,361,504 49.36%
Valid votes 8,835,219 95.22%
Invalid or blank votes 443,825 4.78%
Total votes 9,279,044 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 9,866,266 94.05%
Results by state, and division
Note: Saturation of colour denotes strength of vote.

The Constitution Alteration (Terms of Senators) Bill 1984,[1] was the third unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to require that Senate of Australia and House of Representatives elections be constitutionally enforced to occur on the same day. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 1 December 1984.

This was the first referendum in which the electors in the territories were counted towards the national total (but not counted toward any state total) following the 1977 Australian referendum (Referendums) which enabled this.

Background

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A proposal for simultaneous elections had been unsuccessful at the referendum in 1974 and substantially the same proposal was again unsuccessful at the referendum in 1977. One of the criticisms of these proposals was that despite the title, the proposal did not require simultaneous elections and the real change which was so that the terms of Senators would be two terms of the House of Representatives.[2] This proposal was similar, however, it was expressly named in relation to the terms of senators.[3]

Yes case

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The yes case was that there were too many elections and the proposal would decrease the number of elections.[4]

No case

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The no case was that the proposal was unnecessary. If the government wanted fewer elections, the House of Representatives could run its full term and the elections would be held at the same time. The proposal was an attempt to undermine the independence of the senate.[4]

Results

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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 [5]
State Electoral roll Ballots issued For Against Informal
Vote % Vote %
New South Wales 3,423,624 3,216,256 1,621,894 52.86 1,446,150 47.14 148,212
Victoria 2,617,291 2,475,891 1,244,451 53.20 1,094,760 46.80 136,680
Queensland 1,549,749 1,447,284 642,768 45.65 765,329 54.35 39,187
South Australia 908,424 856,226 398,127 49.98 398,463 50.02 59,636
Western Australia 858,763 806,637 358,502 46.47 412,996 53.53 35,139
Tasmania 289,142 277,100 102,762 39.29 158,777 60.71 15,561
Australian Capital Territory 150,416 140,982 76,901 56.68 58,764 43.32 5,317
Northern Territory 68,857 58,668 28,310 51.87 26,265 48.13 4,093
Total for Commonwealth 9,866,266 9,279,044 4,473,715 50.64 4,361,504 49.36 443,825
Results Obtained a majority in two states and an overall majority of 112,211 votes. Not carried

Discussion

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This was the third unsuccessful referendum that sought to require simultaneous elections of the House of Representatives and the Senate.[5]

This section is an excerpt from 1988 Australian referendum (Parliamentary Terms) § Discussion.[edit]
Simultaneous election results [5]
Question NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas ACT [6] NT [6] States in favour Voters in favour Result
(29) 1974 Simultaneous Elections 51.1% 49.2% 44.3% 47.1% 44.1% 41.4% — — 1:5 48.3% Not carried
(33) 1977 Simultaneous Elections 70.7% 65.0% 47.5% 66.0% 48.5% 34.3% — — 3:3 62.2% Not carried
(37) 1984 Terms of Senators 52.9% 53.2% 45.7% 50.0% 46.5% 39.3% 56.7% 51.9% 2:4 50.6% Not carried
(39) 1988 Parliamentary Terms 31.7% 36.2% 35.2% 26.8% 30.7% 25.3% 43.6% 38.1% 0:6 32.9% Not carried

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Constitution Alteration (Terms of Senators) Bill 1984 (Cth).
  2. ^ "Elections move: Title of bill a fraud: Snedden". The Canberra Times. 15 November 1973. p. 13. Retrieved 22 October 2021 – via Trove.
  3. ^ Information and Research Service (29 June 1984). "Bills Digest 1984: Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1984" (PDF). Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  4. ^ a b Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs (24 March 1997). "Part 2 - History of Australian Referendums" (PDF). Select sources on constitutional change in Australia 1901-1997. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 0644484101.
  5. ^ a b c Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.
  6. ^ a b Following the 1977 referendum, votes cast in the territories count towards the national total, but are not counted toward any state total.
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