Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Labor welcomes this Electoral Amendment (Territory Representation) Bill 2020, which will ensure that the Northern Territory retains two seats in the House of Representatives. Of course, this bill is in response to Labor's original bill introduced by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy earlier this year, which I was a proud co-sponsor of.

Since the introduction of our bill in June, my Labor colleagues in the Northern Territory—Luke Gosling, Warren Snowdon and Senator McCarthy—have fought to ensure that the voices of Territorians are not diminished by having the Territory reduced to one enormous electorate. This bill is the outcome of a sustained campaign. We were able to secure the support of the CLP's Senator McMahon, the Greens, the crossbench, the Northern Territory government, the Northern Territory opposition and even the National Party to ensure that the government was forced to deal with this issue. I'd like to thank all of my Senate colleagues and colleagues in the other place for their support of this bill. I'd also like to thank the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Michael Gunner; the ALP national secretary, Paul Erickson; and the ALP NT secretary, Anthony Brereton, for all their hard work and commitment to securing the Territory's representation. I extend my thanks and appreciation to the Labor members of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters—Senator Carol Brown, Milton Dick, Senator Marielle Smith and Kate Thwaites—for the time and effort they put into the inquiry on this bill.

There was no accounting for community interest—that is, what the people in remote and regional communities need and how different it is from what the people of Darwin and Palmerston need. There was no accounting for demography—that is, the fact that First Nations Australians make up about 30 per cent of the Territory's population. There's only one thing that the AEC can look at, and that's population. On those figures, the Northern Territory fell short of retaining its two seats by around 4,000 people. Labor couldn't stand by and let the Territory representation diminish. The government wasn't acting to save the Northern Territory's second seat, so we in Labor introduced our own piece of legislation. The bill that the government introduced isn't exactly what Labor would have done, but it does fix the problem. And, instead of enacting JSCEM's third recommendation—which is to change the method by which both territories are entitled to a determination—it uses a method that we didn't advocate but that does the job of fixing the issue.

Many others have spoken about the various details of the bill, so I won't go over that again. The bill also sets aside the AEC's most recent determination in relation to the Northern Territory. The determination made in 2017, which allocated two seats to the Northern Territory, will apply. I met with the Electoral Commissioner earlier this week, and he confirmed to me that the current boundaries of Solomon and Lingiari will remain unchanged and there will be no requirement for a further redistribution.

My first visit to the Northern Territory was some 44 years ago, to help Darwin rebuild after the cyclone, and I've made countless trips there ever since. Working with my Labor colleagues in the Northern Territory to help secure this important change has been an honour—and, particularly, working with Senator McCarthy on this issue. Passion and dedication have been the driving forces behind this campaign. Labor has always been committed to ensuring all Territorians continue to have fair representation in our federal parliament. We are glad that the government has come on board. I thank the former minister, Minister Cormann, and Minister Birmingham for the respectful way in which they've handled this issue. This is a win for democracy, and we're all pleased to support this bill.