Page 3781 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 October 1990
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fix the seriously flawed electoral system that it has imposed on the ACT and it should then hand over responsibility for electoral matters to the ACT.
While the Alliance Government is happy to negotiate with the Commonwealth on the matter, the fact remains - and remains without equivocation - that it is the Commonwealth Government which should correct its patent error. If the Commonwealth is incapable, for one reason or another, of giving proper expression to this responsibility by making a decision, then it should let the ACT decide the issue through its elected representatives in the Assembly. But, of course, it has to amend its own Act to allow us to do that.
If the Commonwealth were to place the decision making responsibility on this Legislative Assembly, the Alliance Government believes the most democratic and fair way to answer the questions on the electoral system would be to put them to the people of the ACT by way of a Commonwealth funded referendum. Thereafter, we would undertake that any substantial change to the electoral system would be referred back to the people for a decision, whilst minor changes, we suggest, could be implemented following endorsement by a special majority of the Assembly. I mean by a special majority, not by a simple majority.
The Government supports the detailed recommendations relating to such aspects of the referendum and electoral system as rotation of the alternative electoral systems on any referendum paper; the increase of the deposit for candidates to $250; the proposal that as a pre-condition to registration a political party should have 20 members; and moving forward the closing date for the receipt of postal votes to the date of the election.
There are two matters on which the Government is not in agreement with the committee's recommendations and they relate to the mechanism for filling casual vacancies and the proposal that independents be able to lodge the equivalent of a party ticket. The Government notes that, in the event of a position being declared vacant, there will not always be pre-existing candidates available to fill casual vacancies on a countback of votes. This could occur if, for example, the vacating member was an independent or the only original candidate from a party, or if the other candidate from that party was simply no longer available to fill the vacancy. In any event, it is the Government's belief that it would be sensible to hold a final decision on this matter until after the electoral system for the ACT is settled. That may well determine what system we should use to fill casual vacancies.
On the question of independents being able to lodge a party ticket, the Government supports the position of the Commonwealth committee which argued that, if an independent candidate wishes to lodge a registered party ticket, it is
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