Page 2513 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 17 June 2009
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productive way forward and it is, I think, particularly important that we achieve common agreement across the Assembly today on this matter.
If the Assembly chooses to support my amendment today, I believe we are in a position to go forth to the commonwealth parliament, to the new Minister for Home Affairs, and present a clear and unambiguous position that it is the view of all parties represented in this place that the act needs review and reform and that there are elements of the act which are completely unacceptable to all sides in this place, and those elements include the executive disallowance power. Nothing less, I think, will be needed to convince the commonwealth of the need for reform. It is a matter of great disappointment to me and to the government as a whole that we are yet to convince our commonwealth colleagues to undertake a review of the self-government act.
It has not been for want of advocacy. The Chief Minister and I have made repeated representations to the home affairs minister of the day and the Chief Minister to the Prime Minister on this matter. It is always difficult to convince the commonwealth to pay attention to smaller jurisdictions in the commonwealth, let alone a very small one such as us. But that does not mean we should not continue to try, and the passage of this resolution today will give us new grounds to approach the commonwealth, hopefully with a clear and unambiguous statement of support from all sides that reform is warranted, it is needed, it is necessary and that it is beyond the particular shades of particular debates on particular policy issues. This debate is bigger than that. It is bigger than any particular policy issue. It is about the right of this place to govern itself and to make laws for the people of the territory.
There is one other matter I would like to put to bed before concluding, and that is the issue of the constitutional arrangements. The government accepts that the constitutional arrangements are clear. The constitution provides for the commonwealth to make laws for the territory and the commonwealth has chosen to delegate those powers to an executive of the ACT and to this Assembly. That is undisputed and will remain for a very long time to come. The ACT cannot become a state and the government does not believe that it should. We are not in the same position as the Northern Territory. We are the home to the seat of government of the commonwealth and that unique position means that our constitutional arrangements will also be unique.
But we should, to the greatest extent possible, seek to disengage the ability of the commonwealth to interfere arbitrarily in the affairs of this place, and that is because this place is democratically accountable to its community for the decisions that it makes and this place is best placed to reflect the will of the community. Certainly the home affairs minister cannot claim to properly represent the views of this community. The home affairs minister does not live here, the home affairs minister has no direct political accountability to this community and nor does the Prime Minister. Until such time as there is a home affairs minister that perhaps lives in and represents this place that will remain the case. But, in any event, we have an arrangement whereby this Assembly is elected through a universal democratic mandate to make laws on behalf of the territory.
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