Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the findings of the inquiry into fair representation for the Northern Territory that were brought down last week. I want to thank all my colleagues on this side in the federal Labor Party who supported me; senator for the Northern Territory Malarndirri McCarthy; and Warren Snowdon, the member for Lingiari. It is very important that the government has listened and has agreed to legislate for two seats for the Northern Territory.

In particular, I want to thank my colleague the shadow minister Don Farrell for all his hard work in making the argument. We believed that the argument was a no-brainer, that the argument was a good one and that it was a fair one. I believe that it was unconscionable for our federal representation in this chamber to be halved. I thank the 4,000 people who signed the petition that Senator Malarndirri McCarthy started. Thank you to all those people around the Territory, around the country and, some, around the world who supported the Northern Territory. I also want to thank those from the other side of the chamber who supported fair representation for the Northern Territory. (Time expired)