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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2920 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

a high level of support for a proposed law. In most other jurisdictions where citizen-initiated referenda operate, a referendum is passed if it is supported by a majority of those who decide to vote at a voluntary poll. By contrast, this bill requires the support of a majority under compulsory voting.

In addition, the Chief Minister must undertake an estimate of what it is likely to cost or save. The Auditor-General then provides an independent assessment of that estimate. The reason for this requirement is that, if a proposal is to be enshrined in law, it is necessary for the community to have reliable information on how much the proposal would cost to implement or the savings which might be made. This is similar to the rigour imposed on the executive when it decides on legislative proposals in this place. It is appropriate for the estimate of the costs or savings to be done at the time the proposed law has been prepared because it is the legislation, not the proposal, that governs what is and what is not done.

In addition, the proposal may never come to a referendum because the Assembly under this scheme may think the idea so worthy that it passes the proposed law before the process is completed. However, if the Assembly does not do so, the proposed law goes to a referendum automatically. Provided that a four-month period has elapsed, the referendum is held in conjunction with the next general election of the Assembly. If a proposal is so popular that more than 10 per cent, or around 21,000 electors, support it at the pre-referendum stage and the proposed law is also tabled prior to 31 May in the first two years of the three-year life of an Assembly, this bill provides for holding a referendum on that proposed law on the third Saturday in October in that year, provided that the Assembly does not first enact the law. I note that there has never been a petition of 21,000 signatures presented in this place.

If a majority of electors support the proposed law, it is presented to the Assembly to be passed into law. As the self-government act now stands, only the Assembly can actually make laws for the territory. The final safety net, if you will, is that the Assembly cannot be bound to enact a proposed law passed at a referendum. In other words, this process effectively is advisory on the Assembly but not obligatory. It is my view that it would be courageous for an Assembly to defy the will of the electors by refusing to pass a law which has been supported by a majority of electors. To enable the results of the community-initiated referenda to be binding on the Assembly, if this bill is passed, the government would need to approach the Commonwealth government to make amendments to the self-government act to reinforce the process.

This bill is not intended to radically alter the way in which we are governed. It is not aimed at usurping the powers and responsibilities of elected representatives. It is aimed at providing direct power to the community to cover those times when elected representatives do not fulfil their role of representing the wishes of the majority. We all know that there are big issues routinely avoided by elected politicians because they are too hard.

Mr Speaker, I take a great deal of pleasure in introducing this bill again today. It is testimony to the Liberals' commitment to the principle of community participation in law-making. As you know, Mr Speaker, we first introduced this bill when we were in opposition. When in government, we put the bill forward again-in fact, on a total of

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