Page 636 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 July 1989
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form most appropriate to ensuring good government and serving the best interests of its citizens.
I must stress that my party's calls for an inquiry to determine the most appropriate form of government for this Territory should not be seen as a backdoor attempt to attack self-government for the ACT, nor in any way regarded as an attack or slur upon this Assembly. It is simply a recognition that consultative mechanisms were not utilised in the first place, and an acknowledgment that until such action is taken a very large proportion of the Canberra population will regard this Assembly either as an unnecessary imposition or as a toothless tiger.
So what will the inquiry achieve? This inquiry will enable the needs of government in the Territory to be identified and examined through public consultation. The inquiry will give legitimacy to government in the ACT, whatever form that may be, and provide a framework for good government which all citizens of Canberra can accept and respect.
However, whatever form of government is in place in the Territory, the existing electoral system is a matter which deserves the most urgent attention, as evidenced from our recent experience in seeking election to this place. The electoral system used in our election to this Assembly is symptomatic of the many features of self-government for Canberra, in that the people of Canberra have had no input into determining what form should be used. The system has simply been imposed upon us and is clearly inadequate.
The first ACT election set records which I can only assume none of us, nor indeed anyone in the ACT electorate, would ever want to see broken. The total number of political parties and the number of independent candidates led to the largest ballot-paper in the history of Australia. The ramifications of the modified d'Hondt system led to the most prolonged and drawn out count of vote in the history of Australia - a period of over two months.
The debacle of the ACT's first election has led to Canberra being the laughing-stock of Australia and, I would suggest, to this house being held to ridicule by many, many people within the Territory itself. It is essential therefore that this committee of inquiry be set up to examine the ACT electoral system and the election process, with a view to recommending changes to improve the process and expedite the count.
Things which need to be examined, I would suggest, include whether the definition of political parties is appropriate, whether the technical requirements for their registration is sufficient, whether deposit arrangements applying to both political parties and candidates are adequate, and whether the cut-off level for unsuccessful candidates is set at the most appropriate level. If these matters are not investigated and remedied, I am prepared to bet London to a brick on that the next Assembly election will be even more tortuous and drawn out than the first.
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