Page 3349 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 24 November 1992
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MR HUMPHRIES: Only a little bit perhaps. Things came back to my ears which were not what I had ever imagined I would hear, but I accept what the Chief Minister has said to the house - I am sure she would not deceive it - and I therefore think it is appropriate that this legislation be acknowledged as the first of two steps in the progress we make towards putting in place that important system.
There have been discussions, as members will know, about changes to the Bill. I give notice that I will be moving a series of amendments to the legislation which provide, I believe, for greater independence for the ACT Electoral Commission and for the commissioner who will assume the primary role of conducting elections in the Territory. The commission that the Government has employed in this model is similar to others that have been used elsewhere, but with some adaptations which may or may not be appropriate to the circumstances of the ACT. Certainly, the process of drawing boundaries is similar to processes which have been used elsewhere and which I think we in the ACT can pick up and reasonably employ here. It is important for us to be able to get community input on the way in which those boundaries are drawn. It is important for people to be able to contribute to the process of identifying the factors which make up a community.
In particular, I draw members' attention to clause 30 of the Bill, which sets out those very important factors which will determine the boundaries of new electorates. I understand that there is an amendment coming forward from Mr Moore which will expand the tolerance provided for in clause 30 paragraph (b) to provide for a greater range in the relevant size of electorates in the Territory in relation to their allocation under the Hare-Clark formula, which, of course, provides for uneven sized seats, and to expand that tolerance from 4 to 10 per cent. The idea of that is to provide as far as possible, at least in intention, that townships in the Territory are not divided arbitrarily between two or more electorates. Paragraph (c) of that clause also contains many important factors which the commission will take into account when deciding on how boundaries will be drawn.
Some of those concepts referred to in clause 30 are pretty amorphous. When I talk about or I consider, for example, the community of interest which exists in, for example, Tuggeranong, I know what I am talking about. I know what I mean by that. I am sure that Ms Ellis, for example, knows what I mean when I talk about that. But it is very difficult to define; it is very difficult to actually put your finger on. The factors which make that up and which constitute that criterion will be a matter of some challenge, I think, to the ACT commission when it gets down to the business of actually drawing those boundaries. Nonetheless, hard to define as it may be, we all know that it exists and we have to give voice to that kind of community of interest by making sure, as far as possible, that we retain electorates that cover, neatly, if possible, townships in the Territory. The redistributions which those criteria will be applied to will occur after each ACT election. That, I think, is a timely interval at which to make those sorts of decisions and I support the concept of keeping those boundaries under review.
I believe that the structure we put in place with this legislation will be such that the sort of manipulation of electoral arrangements that we saw in, for example, Queensland in recent years will not and cannot be repeated in the ACT. All in this place would not like ever to see the drawing of boundaries become an issue
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