"Should the number of professional firefighters employed full time in the New Zealand Fire Service be reduced below the number employed on 1 January 1995?

"The first Citizens Initiated Referendum was held in New Zealand on 2 December 1995 (1995-12-02), based on the question: Should the number of professional firefighters employed full time in the New Zealand Fire Service be reduced below the number employed on 1 January 1995?

The referendum returned an extremely low voter turnout, with less than 27% of enrolled voters casting a vote.

The referendum was rejected with a huge margin, but career firefighter numbers were reduced regardless.

There were 1819 career firefighters on 1 January 1995, 1573 in 1998 and 1702 in 2009.