There have been 18 referendums in New South Wales, 8 of which concerned proposals to amend the New South Wales Constitution, half of which concerned the Legislative Council. While the Constitution of Australia was adopted after the 1898 and 1899 referendums in all of the proposed states, the Constitution of New South Wales, promulgated in 1902, was an Act of the Parliament of New South Wales which could be amended by Parliament. Since 1927 the Constitution has included provisions that can only be amended following approval in a referendum. 8 of the referendums, including 5 on the sale of alcohol, did not involve any proposed amendment to the Constitution. While these have traditionally been called referendums, they could also be described as plebiscites.

Local Government Areas (also known as Councils or LGAs) can also propose Constitutional amendments such as when the Council wants to make changes to the method by which the Mayor is elected to office by direct election or indirect election by the Councillors. Councils may also conduct polls which are optional to vote in and may be limited to certain voters on a proposal to gain community opinion on building infrastructure or other matters, the result of these polls (like a plebiscite) is non-binding on the Council.

Alteration of the Constitution

List of referendums

+Results of referendums Year # Name Option AmendConstitution Yes % No % Ref 1898

Federation of Australia

48.53 1899

Federation of Australia

43.51 1903 1 Number of Members of the Legislative Assembly Reduce to 90

17.05 1916 2 Licensed premises closing hour 6 pm

37.82 1928 3 Prohibition with compensation

28.74

1933 4 Reform the Legislative Council

48.53 1947 5 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 6 pm

37.54 1954 6 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 10 pm

49.73 1961 7 Abolish the Legislative Council

42.42

1967 8 New England new state

45.82

1969 9 Sunday trading for hotels

42.03

1976 10 Daylight saving

32.59 1978 11 Election of Legislative Council

15.19 1981 12 4 year terms

30.96 13 Disclosure of pecuniary interests

13.99 1991 14 Reduce size of Legislative Council

42.27 1995 15 Fixed terms of parliament

24.52 16 Judicial independence

34.10

See also Referendums in Australia Government of New South Wales Elections in New South Wales

Notes

References