Page 3029 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
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Electoral System
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Chief Minister also. The Chief Minister will be aware that the Territory is abuzz with rumours that her Government is planning to dump or tamper with key elements of the Hare-Clark electoral system which was favoured overwhelmingly by ACT electors in February. I ask the Chief Minister: Will she take the opportunity I now present to her to dispel those rumours and to categorically and unambiguously commit herself and her Government to present legislation which reflects the Hare-Clark electoral system as outlined in the referendum options description sheet which was circulated to all electors prior to the election in February this year?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, Mr Humphries has sought to make an issue of this matter. As he referred to rumours which are rife, may I say that he started all of them and he has kept them all going. There is absolutely no doubt what my commitment on this issue is. I might say that I made that commitment long before Mr Kaine did. My commitment, made before the referendum, after the referendum and at every point since, has been to implement the wishes of the Canberra people in their vote on that referendum. Madam Speaker, that is what I will do and, of course, that involves us in bringing forward legislation with a Hare-Clark system, as outlined in the referendum document, and the other aspects of the preferred electoral system as outlined in that referendum document. My commitment there is unequivocal, Madam Speaker, and it always has been.
I deeply resent the implications made by Mr Humphries that there is some sort of backtracking going on. There most certainly is not. I notice that he has made much of that in the media; that there is some secret agenda. I can assure you that there is not. The commitment to the referendum result is one which I hold very dear. I would like to say, Madam Speaker, that on that referendum result I really do believe at this point, given that both Mr Kaine and I have given a similar commitment on it, that it really is a matter that is somewhat above politics. I do not believe that it is an appropriate matter for this kind of stuntsmanship that Mr Humphries is indulging in. I think that if we can implement that referendum result in a manner that involves as much consensus as is possible we will all be regarded in a better light by the community, who have made their views on the matter quite clear.
MR HUMPHRIES: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. I am greatly reassured by the Chief Minister's answer to that question. I therefore ask: Can she therefore clarify any last lingering doubts in my mind and assure us that the ballot-paper that appears under the Hare-Clark system as espoused by her Government will be as indicated in the Hare-Clark option sheet in the referendum, that is, without any boxes appearing above the line?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I do not have that document before me. As I have said, I have a commitment to implementing the system that was selected by the people of Canberra in the detail that is involved in the referendum description sheet. Beyond that, I think that Mr Humphries is clearly casting a net and trying to anticipate some debate, which I think we will have in due course.
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