NORTHERN TERRITORY A STEP CLOSER TO FAIR PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION

Labor’s efforts to guarantee the Northern Territory two lower house seats by law took an important step forward today, with the Senate passing a bill to ensure the NT keeps at least two MPs.

It was Labor’s campaign and introduction of our own bill to the Parliament in June that made the government take notice and address this issue.

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) conducted an inquiry into Labor’s bill, sponsored by Senators McCarthy and Farrell, and recommended the Government introduce its own bill guaranteeing two seats for both the NT and the Australian Capital Territory.

Labor’s bill focused on the Northern Territory because under the formula the Australian Electoral Commission must use to determine the number of seats in each state and territory, the NT lost a seat and was set become one vast, under-represented electorate, served by a single MP.

We knew that was an unacceptable outcome and NT CLP Senator Sam McMahon, the Nationals, the Greens, the cross-bench, the NT Government and the NT Opposition agreed, with their support for Federal Labor’s bill helping to ensure the government agreed to deal with this issue.

Labor has fought hard for the voice of Territorians and to avoid a single MP being left to serve a population of nearly 250,000 across an area of around 1.4 million square kilometres, as well as the remote Indian Ocean Territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Protecting the Territory’s two seats by law will ensure that all Territorians, including the 30 per cent of the NT’s population who are First Nations people, will continue to have the representation in Canberra that they deserve.

Labor welcomes this latest step towards legislating a strong voice and fair representation for the people of Australia’s territories.

We will always fight for all Australians to be fairly represented in our nation’s democratic system.