1903 New South Wales referendum


A referendum concerning the reduction of the members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly was put to voters on 16 December 1904, in conjunction with the 1903 federal election. The referendum was conducted on the basis of optional preferential voting. However, preferences were not counted, as an overwhelming majority voted to reduce the number of members to 90.

The question

The text of the question was:
As to what shall be the number of Members of the Legislative Assembly.
Which of the following numbers do you prefer, and what is the order of your preference?
125
100
90

Results

The referendum was overwhelmingly in favour of reducing the number of members to 90.
Votes%
Maintain at 125 members63,17122.3%
Reduce to 100 members13,3164.7%
Reduce to 90 members206,273
Total Formal282,76087.2%
Informal41,48412.8%
Total Votes324,244-

Aftermath

The referendum did not provide how the reduction of members was to occur. Parliament was recalled to decide how to give effect to the referendum, and passed the Electorates Redistribution Act 1904 which provided the districts were to be determined by three electoral districts commissioners. The proposed districts were published by the commissioners on 18 March 1904, and the final districts were published on 22 April 1904.