1984 Australian referendum (Terms of Senators)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox referendum 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

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

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

No case

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

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?

ResultTemplate:HspTemplate:Refn
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

This was the third unsuccessful referendum that sought to require simultaneous elections of the House of Representatives and the Senate.Template:Refn Template:Excerpt

See also

References

Template:Reflist

  1. REDIRECT Template:Australian elections
  1. ↑ Template:Url (Cth).
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=1984_Australian_referendum_(Terms_of_Senators)&oldid=1071238"