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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3407 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I will quote selectively from the Senate committee's report, as members have a copy of it themselves. They go on to say:

All those States have the power to legislate on the matter with which this bill deals. If it is passed, the three relevant jurisdictions will lose that power. The States will continue to hold it.

Given this, the committee raises the following issues:

. The Commonwealth Parliament having given the Legislative Assembly of each Territory the power "to make laws for the peace, order and good government" of each Territory, would, by this bill, negate the valid exercise of that legislative power by one of them.

. The Commonwealth Parliament, by this bill, proposes to intrude on the law-making function of the Territories not in accordance with a general principle but on an ad hoc basis. This threatens the certainty which ought exist for its citizens when any one or more of the Territories passes a valid law.

. The Commonwealth Parliament, while undoubtedly having the power to pass this bill, -

I do not question that at all -

would, by so doing, create a situation where some Australians are treated in a way different from other citizens because it curtails their present right to self-government in circumstances where, were they to live in the States, it could not do so.

. The Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 has now been in operation for a number of years and, up to the time this bill was introduced, people living there had the reasonable expectation that the statute would not be amended to deprive their Assembly of a power it had held for over a decade and a half. This bill now puts that reasonable expectation at risk.

. This bill, if passed, would override the decision of the democratically elected government of the Northern Territory when it appears that there would be no head of power or international convention by which it could override the same or similar legislation enacted by the States.

The report concludes:

The committee draws Senators' attention to the provisions, as they may be considered to trespass unduly on personal rights and liberties, in breach of principle 1(a)(i) of the committee's terms of reference.

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