1995 Referendum

Updated 6 Jan 2015

On 18 February 1995 the Proportional Representation (Hare-Clark) Entrenchment Bill 1994 was submitted to a referendum.

Overview

On 8 December 1994, a Private Member's Bill, the Proportional Representation (Hare-Clark) Entrenchment Bill, was passed by the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill provided for the conduct of a referendum, which if passed by a majority of electors, would entrench principles of the ACT's current electoral system. The Entrenchment Bill provided that, should the referendum proposal be approved at referendum, elements of the electoral system would only be able to be changed if a majority of electors voted in favour of change at a future referendum, or if a two-thirds majority of Legislative Assembly members voted in favour of change.

The referendum was held in conjunction with the 18 February 1995 general election for the Legislative Assembly.

Voters were asked to write YES or NO on the ballot paper to show whether they approved the law to entrench the principles of the proportional representation (Hare-Clark) electoral system.

The results of the referendum showed that 56.68%, a majority, of all the electors entitled to vote at the referendum approved the entrenching law. For an entrenchment referendum proposal to succeed under the Australian Capital Territory (Self Government) Act 1988 a majority of electors have to approve the proposal. That is, more than half of the electors on the electoral roll had to vote "Yes" for the referendum to succeed, rather than half the electors formally voting.

Of those electors who cast a valid vote, 65.01% approved the entrenching law. The referendum result was declared on 16 March 1995 and the principles of the proportional representation (Hare-Clark) system were entrenched.

Statistics

Electorate
Yes
No
Formal
Informal
Total
Enrolment
Votes
%
Votes
%
Votes
%
Votes
%
Votes
%
Brindabella
30330
60.89
19485
39.11
49815
95.68
2250
4.32
52065
89.26
58327
Ginninderra
30916
64.17
17259
35.83
48175
95.87
2077
4.13
50252
88.55
56749
Molonglo
48420
68.49
22273
31.51
70693
96.11
2863
3.89
73556
89.83
81883
Total ACT
109666
65.01
59017
34.99
168683
95.91
7190
4.09
175873
89.29
196959