Page 256 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 December 2016

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(c) increasing voter participation in elections and encouraging political activity; and

(d) any other relevant matter;

(2) the select committee shall consist of the following number of members, composed of:

(a) two Members to be nominated by the Government;

(b) two Members to be nominated by the Opposition;

(c) one Member to be nominated by the Crossbench; and

(d) the Chair shall be a Government Member;

(3) the select committee be provided with necessary staff, facilities and resources;

(4) the select committee is to report by the last sitting day in 2017;

(5) if the Assembly is not sitting when the committee has completed its inquiry, the committee may send its report to the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, to the Deputy Speaker, who is authorised to give directions for its printing, publishing and circulation;

(6) the foregoing provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders; and

(7) nominations for membership of the committee be notified in writing to the Speaker within two hours following conclusion of the debate on the matter.

In the parliamentary agreement of the Ninth Assembly, ACT Labor and the ACT Greens agreed to establish a select committee to review the operation of the 2016 ACT election and Electoral Act.

Further, it was agreed that a select committee would make recommendations on lowering the voting age, improving donation rules and reporting time frames, and encouraging more people to enrol, vote, and participate more widely in political activity. This motion gives effect to that commitment in the parliamentary agreement.

MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (12.23): I am sure this is a committee that every member here will be interested in—very personally interested in. I guess that one of my personal interests is that in 2012 when I was previously in the Assembly we passed some very robust laws about political donations. Unfortunately, in the previous Assembly those laws were largely repealed. I believe the situation was that my colleague Mr Rattenbury was the only person who voted against these repeals.

The Greens are very concerned that we have a strong, robust political system. Part of


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