David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The bill addresses the unfair lack of democratic representation of the ACT and the Northern Territory.

At our national birth in 1901, Part 2 of the Constitution set out that each state was to be provided an equal number of senators.

A significant reason for this was the need to safeguard smaller jurisdictions against being dominated by a democratic majority.

This is why there are as many senators from Tasmania as there are senators from New South Wales.

This was a wise decision from the authors of our national birth certificate. It means that despite being vastly outnumbered in the House of Representatives, the Senate offers protection to smaller states from decisions that threaten their interests.

But the Territories are not afforded the same protection.

In 1975, a deal was struck to grant two Senators to each Territory.

It was a political deal based on a calculation that each major party would get two more representatives.

But the calculation did not address the core question of what baseline level of democratic representation is appropriate for Territories.

It overlooked a deeper consideration of the appropriate balance between federalism and representative democracy.

As a result, Territorians are denied protection and their legislatures suffer from interventions from the Federal Government.

Historic violations of territory rights are a dark stain on our democracy.

In the ACT, we suffered 25 years of discrimination that prevented Territorians from accessing voluntary assisted dying.

But until just recently this was not the case.

And attempts from the Federal Parliament to reach into territory issues continue.

Less than a year ago, the Australian Capital Territory Dangerous Drugs Bill 2023 was introduced into the Senate.

That bill was yet another attempt to prevent the ACT government from making laws that impact ACT residents only.

This overreach must stop.

And part of the solution is providing the Territories fair representation in the Senate.

This bill provides the ACT and the NT with half the number of senators as the states.

In doing so, it strikes the right balance between federalism and representative democracy and would finally provide Territorians appropriate democratic safeguards.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.