Skip to section navigationSkip to Handbook navigationSkip to contentCommonwealth of Australia Coat of ArmsParliament of Australia - Department of the Parliamentary Library
HomeSenateHouse of RepresentativesLive BroadcastingThis Week in ParliamentFindFrequently asked questionsContact

What's New
Current Parliamentary Information
Historical Parliamentary Information
Elections and Referendums
Publications
Resources Guides
Administration

Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia

Home | Referendums and Plebiscites | Referendum results 1984

Referendum results

1 December 1984

(37) Terms of Senators; (38) Interchange of Powers

Question 1

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?

Constitution Alteration (Terms of Senators) 1984 proposed to introduce simultaneous elections for both Houses of Parliament.

Result
State Number on rolls Ballot papers issued For Against Informal
  %   %
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
Obtained majority in two States and an overall majority of 112 211 votes.
Not carried

Question 2

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

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

The Constitution places some hurdles in the way of easy cooperation between the Commonwealth and State governments. Constitution Alteration (Interchange of Powers) 1984 sought to introduce more flexibility into the constitutional provisions relating to Commonwealth–State relations.

Result
State Number on rolls Ballot papers issued For Against Informal
  %   %
New South Wales 3 423 624 3 216 256 1 475 971 49.04 1 533 799 50.96 206 486
Victoria 2 617 291 2 475 891 1 139 565 49.86 1 146 136 50.14 190 190
Queensland 1 549 749 1 447 284 578 674 41.69 809 249 58.31 59 361
South Australia 908 424 856 226 355 588 45.94 418 433 54.06 82 205
Western Australia 858 763 806 637 336 184 44.28 423 022 55.72 47 431
Tasmania 289 142 277 100 87 933 34.65 165 878 65.35 23 289
Australian Capital Territory 150 416 140 982 74 741 56.10 58 487 43.90 7 754
Northern Territory 68 857 58 668 25 684 47.78 28 066 52.22 4 918
Total for Commonwealth 9 866 266 9 279 044 4 074 340 47.06 4 583 070 52.94 621 634
Obtained majority in no State and an overall minority of 508 730 votes.
Not carried

 

Referendum results
1906 | 1910 | 1911 | 1913 | 1919 | 1926 | 1928 | 1937 | 1944 | 1946 | 1948 | 1951 | 1967 | 1973 | 1974 | 1977 | 1984 | 1988 | 1999

 

Top

Parliamentary Library | Parliamentary Handbook home

Comments to: web.library@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 10 January 2003 by the Parliamentary Library Web Manager
© Commonwealth of Australia
Parliament of Australia Web Site Privacy Statement
Images courtesy of AUSPIC

 

 

W3C HTML 4.01 WC3 CSS W3C WAI-AA WCAG 1.0

For more information about the compliancy standards applied within the Parliamentary Handbook please see the Accessibility page.