Page 3732 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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with the introduction of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment (Disallowance Power of the Commonwealth) Bill 2006 in June this year. Time ran out for debate in September but the bill is unlikely to be passed, with Liberal members being unsupportive of the bill.
The ACT government welcomed Senator Brown’s bill, as well as the support of the federal Labor Party. This motion acts to continue the discussion in this place and focus on what the people of the ACT are entitled to: equal democratic rights. Section 35 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 needs to be amended to remove the federal executive’s power to disallow acts of the ACT Legislative Assembly.
While this power remains, residents of the ACT will remain second class citizens. The members they democratically elected in 2004 to govern the ACT on their behalf have only a qualified power. Any decision made in this place and any legislation debated, voted on and enacted, may be overturned by the commonwealth executive. Any law the federal executive does not agree with or feels uncomfortable with runs the risk of being overridden.
I look forward to listening to the debate from other members in this place. I will listen with particular interest to the comments from opposition members. I hope they will be mindful of their responsibility to represent the residents of the ACT as they were elected to do. I hope they will not show the disdain that their federal colleagues showed for this place.
I found it particularly disheartening to read the speech made against Senator Brown’s bill by Senator Gary Humphries. It is depressing to read that a senator for the ACT, a former member, minister and chief minister for the ACT, believes that his former colleagues can rightfully have their legislation overridden.
Only the members of this Assembly and the federal representatives from the ACT can claim a legitimate mandate to represent the views of the people of the ACT. We know members of this place are elected by the people of the ACT in a democratic election on the basis of policies made known to the electorate.
In the 2004 election, the 209,749 people who voted elected the members in this chamber today. Prior to the 2004 election, the Stanhope government stated its intention to legislate for recognition of same-sex relationships. The people of the ACT went to the polls knowing this, and a majority Labor government was returned. In electing the members of the Legislative Assembly, the people of the ACT have indicated who they wish to have exercising power on their behalf to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the territory.
Members of the present ACT Assembly have debated and passed a great number of laws since the establishment of self-government in 1989. This process has been a lawful exercise of the legislative power of the various parliaments of the Australian Capital Territory, made in pursuit of political mandates given to the Assembly by the people of the Australian Capital Territory. The commonwealth executive—and, for that matter, the unelected Governor-General—have no claim that they represent the views of the people of the territory.
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