Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will not be supporting these amendments. The amendments run completely contrary to the spirit of the bill. The bill gives recognition to the fact that in the ACT and in the Northern Territory we have mature debating chambers that are able to govern the people who have elected them. For this parliament to determine in advance what those chambers may or may not legislate about reflects the kind of paternalism that this bill is seeking to redress. This bill is seeking to restore the position that exists under the Constitution. There will still be a capacity in the unamended bill for this parliament to pass a law if it considers that any territory has done anything it should not have done. That position remains and the constitutional supremacy of this parliament remains. For those reasons, we will not be supporting the amendments.

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