Territory Rights
The submission which Gai Brodtmann and I made to the Senate inquiry considering changes to the ACT Self-Government Act to strengthen territory rights.
Submission to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment (Disallowance and Amendment Power of the Commonwealth) Bill 2010
Section 35 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 affords the Governor-General the power to disallow an enactment of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative Assembly by legislative instrument within 6 months after it is made.
Because state parliaments are not subject to the same limitation, this limits the power of the ACT Legislative Assembly to legislate on behalf of all Canberrans. Its practical effect is that an ACT law may be overturned by the Governor-General (acting on advice of the executive), even though it is supported by a majority of Canberrans.
Citizens of the ACT deserve a better deal. After more than two decades of self-government, the ACT Legislative Assembly has proven itself to be a mature debating chamber, which stands the equal of any other state or territory legislature in Australia.
Without a constitutional change, the Australian Parliament will still have the right to overturn territory laws. But this power should only be exercised in the most extreme cases. Overturning territory law should require a decision of the federal parliament, and not remain the prerogative of the executive.
Moving the veto power from the executive to the Australian Parliament will ensure that an open debate takes place, in which every Australian Parliamentarian – including the ACT’s MPs and Senators – has the opportunity to speak out.
We encourage the committee to support the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment (Disallowance and Amendment Power of the Commonwealth) Bill 2010 and the repeal of section 35 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Andrew Leigh MP Gai Brodtmann MP
Federal Member for Fraser Federal Member for Canberra
That’s all very nice except for a small problem in the Constitution.
125. The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.
To be blunt, self-government is already in violation of the plain language of the constitution and you propose to make it worse.
[...] and Gai Brodtmann – the federal members of the House of Representatives – have made a submission. Section 35 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 affords the [...]
Sinclair, clearly you did not read the speech. It is not advocating self-government, merely that the Commonwealth’s veto power be exercised by the Federal Parliament rather than the Federal executive.
[...] ACT colleague Gai Brodtmann and I took the unusual step of making a submission to the Senate inquiry into the bill. Federal Labor’s decision to back it is subject only to some technical tweaks (this AAP [...]