COMMONWEALTH LATIMER HOUSE PRINCIPLES
A close-up of the statue in front of the A.C.T. Legislative Assembly building.
last 20 years has been the view that more Members are required to fulfil the potential of the Assembly as the legislative branch of government. The Halligan review continued this theme, observing that: “The Legislative Assembly needs to have its numbers substantially increased as soon as possible. The actual size needs to be determined, but the figure advanced by previous reports (25) is at the upper end of those advocated, ‘and provides the greatest potential for augmenting governance capacity’. The actual size and electoral arrangements should be the subject of an independent investigation that includes the Electoral Commissioner, with a major emphasis being governance capacity.” It has become quite clear that a considerable increase in the size of the Assembly is required in order for
the institution to acquit effectively the full range of legislative, executive, representative and accountability functions. The A.C.T. is perhaps the most under-governed jurisdiction in Australia and there is a strong case to amend the Australian Capital Territory (Self Government) Act 198810
to
allow the Assembly to set its own size and, following this, to introduce a clearly defined process for increasing the number of MLAs.11
Self-government and sovereignity The review notes the recent advancements in the A.C.T.’s governance arrangements following the passage in the Federal Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment (Disallowance and Amendment
50 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One
Power of the Commonwealth) Bill 2010, which amongst other things removed the power of the federal executive through the Governor-General to override Territory laws. Professor Halligan observed that: “Securing full-self government is already a priority of the A.C.T., and significant progress has recently been made with the removal of a Commonwealth Minister’s ability to reject Territory legislation, but full independence from the Commonwealth needs to be reiterated here to underscore its importance as a fundamental basis of territory governance”.13
the federal Parliament retains the power to overturn A.C.T. laws, it is a major advancement that the Commonwealth executive alone no longer has this power. Speaker Rattenbury’s submission to the
Senate committee examining this Bill, made the following point: “While it is accepted that the Commonwealth Parliament will always have legislative responsibilities in relation to the A.C.T., the existing provisions in the Self-Government Act permitting disallowance of A.C.T. laws by the Governor-General on the instruction of the Federal Executive Council are undemocratic and are anachronistic in much the same way as are ss 58, 59 and 60 provisions in the Commonwealth Constitution. “In the case of the A.C.T., this is not
Although
an academic or theoretical point - the fact that the federal executive has chosen to exercise the disallowance powers under s35 of the Self- Government Act and overturn an enactment of the Legislative Assembly for the A.C.T., creates a high degree of uncertainty as to the
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