1984 Australian referendum (Terms of Senators) explained

Australian Senator Terms referendum, 1984
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?
Country:Australia
Yes:4,473,715
No:4,361,504
Invalid:443,825
Electorate:9,866,266
Outcome:Not carried, A majority "yes" vote nationally, but in only two states.
Mapdivision:state, and division
Notes: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

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?

Result
StateElectoral rollBallots issuedalign=center colspan="2" Foralign=center colspan="2" Againstalign=center rowspan="2" Informal
align=center Votealign=center %align=center Votealign=center %
New South Wales3,423,6243,216,2561,621,8941,446,15047.14148,212
Victoria2,617,2912,475,8911,244,4511,094,76046.80136,680
Queensland1,549,7491,447,284642,76845.65765,32939,187
South Australia908,424856,226398,12749.98398,46359,636
Western Australia858,763806,637358,50246.47412,99635,139
Tasmania289,142277,100102,76239.29158,77715,561
Australian Capital Territory150,416140,98276,90156.6858,76443.325,317
Northern Territory68,85758,66828,31051.8726,26548.134,093
Total for Commonwealth9,866,2669,279,0444,473,7154,361,50449.36443,825
ResultsObtained 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.

See also

Notes and References

  1. (Cth).
  2. News: Elections move: Title of bill a fraud: Snedden . . 15 November 1973 . 22 October 2021 . 13 . Trove.
  3. Web site: Bills Digest 1984: Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1984 . Information and Research Service . Parliamentary Library . 29 June 1984 . 2021-10-22.
  4. Book: Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs . Select sources on constitutional change in Australia 1901-1997 . http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_representatives_Committees?url=laca/constitutionalchange/part2.pdf . Part 2 - History of Australian Referendums . 0644484101 . Commonwealth of Australia . 24 March 1997.