Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. I've heard that the government's not going to oppose it, so I'll explain the reasons for what's in front of us. For a long time now there has been a question as to whether the Northern Territory would go from two seats to one. The Northern Territory involves, as we would know, some of the most disadvantaged communities in Australia. And there are other parts of Australia that have smaller populations than what there would be if the Northern Territory remained at two seats. I don't know whether there will be support in both houses to keep the Northern Territory at two seats. Previously, there has been.

This amendment says that if a bill to do that makes it through the Senate it will be within our power to make that decision this week and to put the bill through. There's a reason it can only be done in this way. Normally, if you have a majority on the floor on a particular issue—we might, certainly with the government saying they're voting for this; I reckon we've got there. But the only way you can prove that with a suspension of standing orders, normally, is to get to 76. We're not allowed to do that at the moment because of social-distancing rules; we can't get that many people into the room. So the only opportunity from the opposition's perspective to be able to force a suspension of standing orders is on the occasion the government moves a suspension of standing orders, which happens once a year, in budget week. So, for people asking 'Why now?', this is the one opportunity that is there for the House to do this.

I would simply urge all members—for the large number of people who've made speeches in this place on different occasions on their commitment to the regions—this week, the House will get to decide if this is carried—that is, whether or not we are going to reduce the representation of the regions in this parliament. I don't think we should, and I certainly don't think we should be reducing the representation of the Northern Territory in this House. I believe we should fix it this week. So I'd urge all members to vote for this amendment; to vote for the Leader of the House's motion, whether it's amended or not; and to use this week as the opportunity to make sure that we do not reduce the parliament's representation of regional Australia.

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