Page 2408 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 17 June 2009
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Petition
The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory and its democratically elected Members respectfully request that the Commonwealth Parliament affirm the rights of the people of the Australian Capital Territory to self-government by removing the relevant provisions of section 35 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 which permit disallowance of enactments of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, and so enhance the democratic character of the Australian Capital Territory.
The ACT Legislative Assembly is 20 years old. The 20th anniversary of self-government in the ACT last month was marked by a ceremonial sitting on 11 May and a conference on 12 May. A feature of these events was a fairly universal expression of pride in the work of the Assembly and the often-articulated view that, in terms of self-government, the ACT and its Assembly had come of age.
Across the two days, the current Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, I and all the ACT’s surviving past chief ministers expressed the view that the Prime Minister’s power to overrule ACT legislation was unnecessary and inappropriate. Different views were expressed about other aspects of self-government, such as how it should be run, how many members and ministers there should be, what cities and towns it should have domain over and so on. But our position on section 34(2) of the commonwealth’s Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988, which gives the Prime Minister this overriding power, was unanimous. I quote opposition leader Zed Seselja from the conference on 12 May:
We need to take a step back and look at the ability to override and when that should exist. I agree with Senator Humphries that when it is done with no accountability, simply executive fiat, that is when we have a real problem.
That is the case with section 34(2), and it is time to get rid of it. And that is why I am moving this motion today. Given we have made it so explicitly clear that we all agree, across three parties, on this, there is no real reason why this motion should not have unanimous support. It is, in essence, very simple.
The key point of my motion, including through the remonstrance, is that section 34(2) of the self-government act is undemocratic. It can be exercised by the Governor-General on advice from the Prime Minister without scrutiny, debate or vote in the Australian parliament, and it should be repealed.
When the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 was introduced, the commonwealth minister said it would allow ACT citizens “the same democratic rights and social responsibilities as their fellow Australians”. The ACT Assembly has responsibility for law and order, roads and development, health and education. I think it is clear that we have the social responsibilities that the Australian government has promised us. But with that equal responsibility should come the same democratic rights as residents of Brisbane and Hobart, for instance, enjoy, which is to elect our legislators and to hold them to account for the laws that they make.
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