Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4808 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Labor Party has made the connection between the composition of the Assembly and whether or not there is a majority government.

On behalf of the Greens, I am also making that link. It is a reasonable and logical link because, if you are giving another year to the government of the day, you want to be confident that the executive can be held accountable by the parliament, and also that the vote of the electorate is representative of the voices in the community. At the moment, having two electorates of five and one of seven means that, quite often, the major parties end up with two seats each in the five-member electorates, even though there can be a significant difference in votes between the two.

There is obviously a strong argument to support seven-member electorates so that preference can be expressed, as well as the fact that, if the community is wary of majority government-traditionally they have been in Canberra-they can ensure there are a diversity of voices in the Assembly in a minority government. If we have that assurance, then I think there would potentially be greater acceptance of extending the term by a year.

There is also the question of whether or not there should be a referendum. I believe there is a perception that there is conflict of interest if, as politicians, we do extend the term of our employment. I think it is reasonable that this is put forward-for a vote in the Assembly.

In conclusion, I think it is important to respect the fact that any changes to how a democracy is run need to go to the people. I think there is already a real concern in the community, whether it is justified or not, that the democratic system is in some ways failing-that it is not actually representing the voices of the people.

I do not necessarily agree with that. I think the Assembly is a people's house in many ways. I believe that, compared to other parliaments, the Legislative Assembly of Canberra is very effective in voicing the concerns of people in the community-and the voting system is part of that effectiveness. Having said that, I believe that, by extending the term of the Assembly to four years, we will be decreasing the effectiveness of the Assembly unless we ensure accountability through extending the number of members and having the electorates arranged in a way that will ensure representation of a diverse range of voices in our community.

MR HARGREAVES (12.09): I thank the opposition for their support of this bill. I pay credit to the point Mr Stefaniak made. It would have been easy for the opposition to say, "We will wait and do this when we are in government."I believe they have taken a responsible position for the good of our system of governance and not allowed any perception of self-interest that may be bandied about to affect their decision making.

I would like to address a couple of issues raised by Ms Dundas and Ms Tucker. Ms Dundas talks about the speed at which the decision has been made. If people read closely the reference material that supports the committee's report, they will realise that this subject has been spoken of for years. People have been born, lived their lives and died in the time people have been talking about this.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .