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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (29 November) . . Page.. 3435 ..

(2) prepare an exposure draft of amendments to the Electoral Act 1992 to establish a process for determining the number of electorates and the number of Members per electorate for an enlarged Assembly, for consideration by the Assembly.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health, Housing and Community Care) (7.33): Mr Speaker, I am delighted to rise to speak to this motion. I have to thank Ms Tucker for sending me a copy of her foreshadowed amendment to the motion. I rise to oppose that amendment and speak in support of the motion as it stands.

The motion as it stands is a very sensible motion. The matter has been through a huge amount of community consultation. It is worth remembering that it was considered by Professor Pettit in a broad-ranging inquiry and that inquiry recommended, as we can see from this motion, that we proceed to having a ratio of one member of the Assembly for every 10,000 constituents. I think that that is a very sensible approach.

Clearly, as the motion indicates, it is not within our power to make this change, but it is something that ought to be within our power and something that we should move to do. We do not need any more consultation. After Professor Pettit brought down the report of his inquiry, the matter was referred to an Assembly committee chaired by Mr Osborne and that committee undertook a huge degree of consultation and discussion on the wide-ranging issues of governance that Professor Pettit dealt with.

Mr Speaker, we have all had the opportunity to look at the results of both of those inquiries and to draw our own conclusions. What we have now is a question of political will. The reality is that the Labor Party and the Liberal Party do not want to be the ones to take the baton and run with it because there is a perception that it is politically unpopular to want more politicians in this place and somebody might point a finger at them and say that they are the ones that want more members.

When are we going to start making sensible decisions about the needs of the place and the needs of the community in terms of democracy? It is quite clear to each and every member here that we have inadequate representation. We have inadequate representation in two ways.

Mr Wood: Speak for yourself. I am adequate.

MR MOORE: Mr Wood interjects that I should speak for myself as he is adequate. I have to accept that as a reasonable interjection. It seems to me-

Mr Wood: I am more than adequate.

MR MOORE: There you are! It is not very often that I give you that; I must be feeling a bit more mellow this evening.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Members may not promote themselves beyond their capacity!

MR MOORE: That is a risky statement to make, Mr Speaker.

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