Page 635 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 July 1989
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basis with the Commonwealth, just as the Northern Territory did when it achieved self-government, so that the Federal Government cannot renege on its responsibilities to the citizens of this Territory.
In addition, my party's call for a Grants Commission hearing so that the ACT may claim special assistance as a claimant State is especially timely, as we believe that there has been a profound misinterpretation of the Grants Commission's previous reports and that this misinterpretation is causing significant harm to the welfare of the people of this Territory.
These are all matters which require detailed investigation, and I am convinced that the only course open to this Assembly is a full and thorough inquiry so that these glaring inadequacies may be corrected. However, the matters which I wish to address in detail are the most appropriate form of government in the ACT, and the method and practice of the first ACT Assembly.
The basic issue is whether all the arrangements put forward under the ACT (Self-Government) Act are in the best interests of the ACT. How do we know that the form of government in place is the most appropriate to the good government of this Territory? When has consultation between the Commonwealth and the people of Canberra taken place? The provisions of self-government were negotiated by the Commonwealth with itself, with its own servant, the ACT Administration, which at the time of course was responsible to the Commonwealth.
What we have wound up with is not what many people thought was most appropriate, a municipal form of government, nor what others had hoped for, full State government responsibilities, but instead a peculiar amalgam of both, something which is neither fish nor fowl, which I venture to say very few people would have anticipated when self-government for this Territory was first mooted.
Now, of course, even within Australia there is a wide range of government types in operation, ranging from small local councils and municipal shire arrangements; through to extremely large city council types of the Brisbane City Council variety, a council with a budget greater than that for the whole state of Tasmania; through to territory governments like Norfolk Island, upon which some parts of our standing orders are based; to the Northern Territory, and State governments which comprise the Federation.
In each of these circumstances, I would assume that the form of government is appropriate to that polity. The question to be asked by us is: What is the most appropriate form of government for this Territory? I think it is essential that this matter be addressed and be seen to be addressed publicly. There is not one person in this house, nor I would doubt in our community at large, who does not share my desire that the ACT have a government
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