Franklin Dam Controversy - Inquiry, Referendum, and Tasmanian State Election

Inquiry, Referendum, and Tasmanian State Election

In 1981, Australian Democrats Senator Don Chipp initiated a Senate inquiry into "the natural values of south-west Tasmania to Australia and the world" and "the federal responsibility in assisting Tasmania to preserve its wilderness areas of national and international importance".

In early 1981 Aboriginal caves were discovered in the area which would be flooded if the dam were to be built. The area contained important Aboriginal hand stencils as well as remnants of campfires and stone tools that were between 8,000 and 24,000 years old. Concerns also began to be raised about habitat loss for endangered species.

On 12 December 1981, the state government held a referendum, the Power Referendum 1981, in an attempt to break the deadlock. The referendum gave voters only two choices, one for each dam proposal. In rounded figures, 47% voted in favour of the original Gordon below Franklin scheme, 8% for the compromise Gordon above Olga scheme, and 45% voted informally. There had been a significant campaign for voters to write "No Dams" on their ballot papers, and in total more than 33% of voters did this; these were initially all counted in the informal vote, but some were later recounted as formal as they also included a valid vote for one of the two dam options.

The ongoing crisis resulted in the replacement of Lowe as premier by Harry Holgate, a Labor politician who was markedly more supportive of the dam proposals. In response, both Lowe and Mary Willey, another Labor MP, resigned from the party and sat in the parliament as independents. This resulted in the loss of a Labor majority in the lower house. Norm Sanders, an Australian Democrats MP and anti-dam campaigner, moved a no-confidence motion, and a state election was called for 15 May.

In May 1982 the Holgate Labor government was defeated by the strongly pro-dam Liberal Party under Robin Gray. The new Premier immediately ordered the original plan to go ahead and passed the necessary legislation. Gray attempted to dissuade the federal government from intervening by threatening to secede from the Commonwealth if they did so. The federal government initially declined to intervene in the dispute.