Tasmanian power referendum, 1981

12 December 1981 (1981-12-12)
Location of proposed dam to be built on Gordon River.
Results
Choice Votes % Gordon River above its junction with Olga River 24,844 15.25% Gordon River below its junction with Franklin River 138,054 84.75% Valid votes 162,898 64.36% Invalid or blank votes 90,221 35.64% Total votes 253,119 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 276,166 91.65%

The Tasmanian power referendum was a one-question referendum held on 12 December 1981, and intended to determine the location of a proposed hydroelectricity dam to be built on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia.

As of 2024, this is the most recent Tasmanian state referendum.

In 1978, the Hydro-Electric Commission (HEC) proposed the construction of a hydroelectricity dam on the Gordon River. The location of the proposed dam was below the Gordon's junction with the Franklin River, and the flooding caused by damming the river would have destroyed the environmentally sensitive Franklin River valley area. Responding to community concern over the proposal, Premier Doug Lowe ordered a moratorium on dam construction and an environmental impact study.^[1]

With the community polarised over the proposed dam's environmental impact and Tasmania's economic and employment needs, Lowe proposed a compromise: to construct the dam at a different point on the Gordon, above the junction with the Olga River (Gordon-above-Olga). Lowe was successful in getting the Gordon-above-Olga plan through the Tasmanian House of Assembly, however the more conservative upper house, the Tasmanian Legislative Council, voted to block the legislation and insisted on the HEC's original Gordon-below-Franklin plan.^[1]

With a parliamentary deadlock over the issue, Lowe was left with no option but to call for a referendum. When announcing the referendum to the media, he was questioned as to whether it would include a 'No Dams' option and he indicated it would. The President of the Labor Party in Tasmania wrote to all Labor MHAs instructing them to withdraw that option, and Lowe was forced into an embarrassing backdown.^[1]

About a month before the referendum was held, Doug Lowe lost a no-confidence motion, and stood down as Premier. He was replaced by Harry Holgate.

A determined campaign against a Franklin Dam by the Tasmanian Wilderness Society was underway, and Lowe hoped to get the support of the society's director, Bob Brown, for the Gordon-above-Olga proposal, also offering to set up a Wild Rivers National Park. Brown refused to support Lowe's alternative unless the "No Dams" option was reinstated on the ballot paper, and when Lowe was unable to comply with this request, the Wilderness Society encouraged its supporters to make their own option by writing "No Dams" on the ballot paper themselves.^[2]

In the initial count of the ballot papers, a significant protest vote was evident, with tens of thousands of electors writing "No Dams" on their ballot papers. The Tasmanian Electoral Office initially disregarded all these votes as informal, even if the voter had indicated one of the legitimate options. Subsequent legal advice indicated that these votes should be counted, and 23,839 votes were reclassified as formal votes.^[3]

Turnout: 92.01%

Despite the success of the 'No Dams' campaign demonstrated by the significant protest vote, the original Gordon-below-Franklin proposal was carried with a plurality in the referendum. Holgate, who had prorogued the House while the referendum was conducted, pledged the government would proceed with the dam construction. Almost as soon as the House reconvened, Labor lost a no-confidence motion, forcing an election for May 1982. At that election, Tasmanian Labor was roundly defeated by Robin Gray and the Liberal Party. Gray also pledged to build the dam.

On 5 March 1983, federal Labor won power, with new Prime Minister Bob Hawke promising to halt the dam project. The Commonwealth Government legislated to prohibit construction of the Franklin Dam, and the legislation was reinforced in the Commonwealth v Tasmania case before the High Court of Australia.^[4]