James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Ensuring Fair Representation of the Northern Territory) Bill 2020. Before I do, I would like to acknowledge the great festival of democracy that was held on the weekend in the Northern Territory. In particular, I want to thank and congratulate all the candidates who stood for election and acknowledge the work of Lia Finocchiaro, the leader of the Country Liberals. I worked for the Country Liberals back in 2012 as their campaign director, when we were very fortunate to come to power after being in the wilderness for a number of years. Lia is one of those brilliant politicians who has what I call the X factor. Congratulations to her and Sallyann Innes and everybody involved in that campaign. I'll have more to say about that at a later time.

This bill, introduced by Senators Farrell and McCarthy on 11 June of this year, would amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act to provide for a minimum of two divisions for the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives. The introduction of this bill was predicated on research that projected the possibility that the Northern Territory would lose one of its two seats in the House of Representatives, caused by its population falling below the entitlement quota for the second seat. On 12 June of this year, Minister Cormann, as Special Minister of State, wrote to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to ask it to inquire into and report back on this bill early in the spring sittings to ensure a timely deliberation before redistribution processes for the Northern Territory could become too far advanced and that senators hear from appropriate experts and from members of the community, including government agencies, on the administrative and legal implications of this bill. As chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, I want to briefly update the Senate on this inquiry and on some of the evidence that has been received.

On 17 June, after Minister Cormann's request, the committee resolved to adopt an inquiry into the bill, which was subsequently publicised by media releases and in the form of invitations to interested parties. It was only during the inquiry—this was on 3 July—that the Australian Electoral Commissioner formally made the determination to increase the number of seats in Victoria from 38 to 39, to decrease the number of seats in Western Australia from 16 to 15 and to decrease the number of seats in the Northern Territory from two to one. This was based on the most recent official population figures for the Commonwealth published by the Australian Statistician. What I will do is go into a bit of detail in terms of how this has come about.

The population quota for one member is 172,537 people, to be precise, with partial quotas over 0.5 rounded up. Unlike the states, the territories are afforded an additional calculation process to account for the margin of error related to the population at the last census. This margin of error calculation was introduced by the Howard government through the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Representation in the House of Representatives) Act 2004, following the recommendation of JSCEM's 2003 territory representation inquiry. The NT population shortfall for a second member was 11,526. This was more than its population margin of error of 7,440. As such, it did not retain a second seat. The ACT population shortfall for a third member was 1,784. This was less than its population margin of error of 10,694. As such, it retained its third seat.

The 31 December 2019 estimated resident population data was published by the ABS in June of this year. These were the most recent statistics required to be used by the Electoral Commissioner under the Electoral Act for the calculation of entitlements ahead of the next election. The determination of reduced entitlement for the Northern Territory to one member only applies immediately for the purposes of enrolment. The members elected at the 2019 federal election, representing the division of Lingiari and the division of Solomon, will continue to represent those electorates up until the next election.

Part III of the Electoral Act specifies the process to be followed to determine the number of members of each state and territory, when it is to be conducted and by whom it is to be conducted. The number of members in the House of Representatives for a state or a territory is based on the population of that state or territory relative to the population of all other states and territories. Some margin-of-error adjustments are made to the territories to account for the accuracy of their census population data. So enrolment is not relevant to the entitlement to members in the House of Representatives. The allocation of members by jurisdiction involves a calculation that divides the population of the state or territory by a population quota. Partial quotas, as I indicated earlier, over 0.5 from this calculation are rounded up. So, in essence, the population quota equals the number of people of the Commonwealth as ascertained by the Electoral Commissioner, divided by twice the number of senators for states.

In calculating this quota, the number of people of the Commonwealth does not include the people of the territories. The Electoral Act requires the Australian Statistician to supply the Electoral Commissioner with the populations of the states and territories, which have been compiled and published in a regular series under the Census and Statistics Act 1905. The information to be supplied by the Statistician is required to be published immediately prior to the day for the calculation—that is, one day after the House of Representatives has been sitting for 12 months following an election. The ABS also publishes the estimated resident population each quarter.

Adjustments may be made to the ACT and NT populations as follows: the ACT to include the Jervis Bay territory and to include Norfolk Island where the latter is not entitled to a member in its own right, and the Northern Territory to include the Christmas Island territory and/or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands territory when either or both of these territories are not entitled to a member in their own right. In both of these cases, the population of the smaller territory is added to the population of the ACT or the Northern Territory and the number of members to which the ACT or the Northern Territory is entitled is recalculated. This is an additional calculation which is made where the entitlement for the ACT or the Northern Territory is a whole number and a remainder that is less than or equal to one-half of the population quota. Depending on the outcome of this calculation, a further adjustment may be made to the population and the number of members recalculated. This is the margin-of-error calculation that was introduced in 2004.

Section 24 of the Constitution does specify that five members at least shall be chosen in each original state and, as has been pointed out by speakers, Tasmania is guaranteed a minimum of five members of the House of Representatives as an original state of the Commonwealth of Australia. Section 122 of the Constitution allows the parliament to make laws for the territories and provides that the parliament may allow the representation of such territories in either house of the parliament to the extent and on the terms which it thinks fit. Subsection 48(2B) of the Electoral Act requires that at least one member of the House of Representatives shall be chosen in the ACT and the NT at a general election. This provision was introduced through the Electoral and Referendum Amendment Act 1989. Prior to the 1989 act, the Commonwealth Electoral Legislation Amendment Act 1983 fixed representation at two members for the ACT and one member for the Northern Territory.

I think it is important that we also look at the historical representation in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory was first represented by one member in the House of Representatives in 1922 through the Northern Territory Representation Act 1922, but it should be noted that the voting and participatory rights of the NT member were initially restricted. They could not vote on any question or be counted in any situation where numbers mattered—for example, a quorum or an absolute majority—and they could not hold office as a Speaker of the House of Representatives or a chair of a House of Representatives committee. In 1936, the Northern Territory member was granted the right to vote on any motion to disallow any Northern Territory ordinance and on any amendment to such a motion. In 1959, the Northern Territory member's right to vote was extended to include any proposal relating solely to the Northern Territory. In 1968, the Northern Territory member was afforded the same rights, privileges and immunities as members for the states. The Northern Territory Representation Act was repealed and replaced by the Commonwealth Electoral Legislation Amendment Act in 1983, which transferred Northern Territory representation privileges in the Electoral Act and retained the Northern Territory's fixed entitlement to one member. I think it's very important to be aware of the historical background of representation in the Northern Territory but also to be fully aware of the legal background upon which redistributions take place in Australia and the basis upon which redistributions do take place.

Since the inquiry into this bill was established some months ago, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has received written and verbal evidence from over 50 individuals and organisations. While it was the committee's original hope to travel to the Northern Territory to hold in-person hearings, the committee secretariat received advice that this was probably not appropriate, considering the coronavirus pandemic that is currently sweeping Australia, and so the committee instead agreed to hold a hearing via teleconference on 21 July.

At the hearing, the committee heard from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and—as Senator McCarthy indicated—we heard from Senator McCarthy along with the federal members for Solomon and Lingiari. We heard from the Australian Electoral Commission. We heard from officers from the Department of Finance and from election analyst Malcolm Mackerras AO—for those who might be listening along at home, it is Professor Mackerras who came up with the Mackerras pendulum. We heard from the ABC's Antony Green as well as from a number of other representatives including from the Chamber of Commerce NT, the Isolated Children's Parents' Association and Indigenous organisations, and from other individuals. Some were supportive of the bill. Others called for amendments or changes to the formula. In saying so, responses to questions on notice arising from the hearing were due last week, and there are some submissions that the committee still needs to consider before publication. It is my understanding that the committee secretariat now is working through the evidence that we have received. The committee had agreed to consider the report in early October; however, it is my preference—and I'm looking across at my Labor colleagues over there—that, subject to the view of other committee members, and without wishing to step on their toes, and considering the workload of the secretariat, I would hope that we can report back sooner than that, given the formal determination by the Australian Electoral Commission in July.

Senator Farrell interjecting—

We do need to consider the evidence soberly and with due consideration, Senator Farrell. In closing, there has been an important and longstanding convention that electoral legislation should generally only be changed based on bipartisan consensus and after appropriate opportunity for scrutiny of legislation. And I do hope that the Senate considers the committee's forthcoming report and recommendations prior to any vote on this bill.