Page 4062 - Week 13 - Thursday, 31 October 2013
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The bill I introduce today seeks to provide for an increase in the number of ministers that can be appointed within government. The Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1998 (Commonwealth) provides for this Assembly to determine the number of ministers to be appointed, by enactment. I propose that to meet the needs of our growing community and the increased complexity in our portfolio responsibilities, growth in the size of the ministry is required. Now is the time to act and to create greater flexibility for future governments.
Early into the term of this government I commissioned an expert reference group to undertake a review into the size of the ACT Legislative Assembly. As part of this review I asked the ERG to consider the previous reviews into the size of the Assembly, limitations of the Hare-Clark system and options for increasing the size of the Assembly.
Not surprisingly, the ERG provided commentary on the size of the ministry and recommended an increase. The report, released publicly in April this year, provided compelling evidence that the small size of the Assembly, and particularly that of the ministry, poses a significant risk to the good governance of the ACT.
Prior to the ERG report, Dr Allan Hawke’s review of the ACT public service argued that there was “an overwhelmingly sound case for increasing the size of the Assembly”, and recommended the ministry also be increased. As we enter our second century as a city and approach 25 years of self-government, this bill goes part-way to implementing the necessary growth to better serve our constituents. A larger ministry will simply enable a better spread of workloads across the executive arm of government.
The ERG’s report found that the ACT has fewer ministers than any other Australian jurisdiction. The report went on to say:
Given that ACT ministers carry both state and local government responsibilities it would be reasonable to conclude that the ministry be increased to at least the number found in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. This would suggest that eight or nine members would be an appropriate size for the ACT ministry.
As I said at the time of tabling the report, it is time to act on the size of the Assembly. No change, I do not believe is an option.
The bill I introduce today looks many years into the future and allows for a maximum of nine ministers, which would make us more comparable to other jurisdictions. It does not increase the ministry in itself, but it creates the capacity to do so. Under our Westminster system of government and the current provisions of the self-government act, ministers are drawn from the ranks of elected members. As a result, a key issue to consider along with this bill is whether the size of the ministry can expand without an increase to the size of the Assembly.
This government believes that the Assembly needs to be of a sufficient size to permit the appointment of an appropriate number of ministers and government backbenchers
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