14 September 2006

Bob Brown to propose bill for ACT legislative independence

| Kerces
Join the conversation
22

The ACT Greens have applauded their federal party leader’s moves to ensure the ACT Legislative Assembly has true legislative independence.

Bob Brown is set to move a Bill today which would take the power to disallow laws passed by the Assembly away from the Federal Government executive.

Greens MLA Deb Foskey has called on Senators Humphries and Lundy to show their commitment to democracy in the ACT through supporting this Bill.

“The Federal Government is clearly interested in power rather than democracy. That is why I expect it will not support Senator Brown’s Bill. People who value democracy should keep their eye on the ACT’s Senator Humphries,” she said.

It will certainly be interesting to see the arguments put against this Bill.

Join the conversation

22
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Abolish the ACT and amalgamate it with NSW.. Solves all of ACT’s representation issues 🙂

Just means you get to cop what Lemon wants instead of Hopeless.

The constitution gives the federal government control of the “seat of government”, but how thats defined is up for questioning. Parliament could declare the feds control the Parliamentary Traingle (as they do already through the NCA), and give the ACT as a territory the power to control all laws relevant to the community. So with the right legislation the controversial local laws which Brown is attempting to protect (Heroin trial, Euthanasia, anti-terrorism, civil unions etc) could be held out of Federal control.

Of course like the bill of rights, the same parliament could overturn the bill to allow a future PM to prevent such legislation, but it would at least force the PM to go before the parliament and argue why the change was necessary, and why the ACT couldnt have the power over this aspect of law.

That would be a significant step forward for the ACT.

We can never become a state, but there are ways to overcome the ACT’s federal distinction as the least represented area in the country.

Agreed Cityboy, especially when you consider how much of our income tax and gst revenue go interstate to support places like tasmania.

The ACT gets completely stooged as a territory. The NT with 2/3 the population gets the same number of federal reps. Tasmania, with 1/3 more population gets 17 representatives to our 4.

I went to a cannibal party once. I had a ball.

and I’d say yes to statehood any day. Given ACT history re the Republic I reckon it would get carried here, but the Constitution is stacked against us twice over – we don’t even get counted as part of the total majority in a referendum.

Actually Roland has a fair point – it’s better that the Parliament has a say about an ACT bill, at least then it gets debated. If the Executive can override a bill then it’s no discussion, just ‘the PM says no’. This is a lot of power in one pair of Canberra-hating hands . . .

mi ting olsem olketa hap belong Naomi Robson i bagarup.

I’d vote for us to become a state – what would we lose apart from federal interference?

hehe – nice one 🙂

barking toad11:52 am 14 Sep 06

maybe for trying to impersonate

barking toad11:21 am 14 Sep 06

Yeeessss!! A story on cannibalism. Onya bobby for jumping on that cause

At least she’ll get to wear her crocodile hunting khaki again

Here’s a thought – maybe bobby can get her to be the new face of the greens in that clobber. And get her to find an earless lizard or something – preferably on the other side of Bass Strait.

That’s got to be better than annoying us in the ACT!

I’m assuming Blob’s specialty prior to joining the Senate wasn’t something called Constitutional Law.

I met him once, his personality was as wet as his handshake

rumour is that it was to be a story on cannibalism – hardly the Papuan cause I would think Bob would be interested in

of course, we’ll never see the story they were going to make and will never know if it was just going to be a cheap ratings grab, POS story – like the rest of Today Tonight’s ‘journalism’.

Now we’ll have to put up with a special on her ‘ordeal’… joy

barking toad11:01 am 14 Sep 06

Hang on – he’s just found another cause so this might lose priority

I was browsing net news sites and saw a headline that Noami Robson was to be deported (bewdy, there is a god after all). But, alas, she’s to be deported back here from Papua (bloody misleading MSM)

But now bobby has jumped on board and lauded Naomi and her Ch7 cohorts for highlighting the Papuan cause. Hooray for bobby.

*yawn* do the Greens ever have anything relevant to say?

OK, so they’d need to pass a bill rather than make a disallowable instrument.

In essence a difference of 1 to the number of votes they need in the Senate to make it happen.

barking toad10:30 am 14 Sep 06

…so, the pulp mill protesting isn’t alleviating the relevance deprivation syndrome

Note the Bill would take away the power of the EXECUTIVE to overide Territory laws [ie John Howard], not the PARLIAMENT.

Well i wouldn’t mind us getting the loot that 12 senators would bring.

but sure, this is a stunt, no parliament can bind its successors. unless Bob’s going to amend the constitution the ACT’s law will remain subordinate to the commonwealth.

The ACT is a territory – territories can have their laws over-rided. Its a simple fact of life. Its constitutional law (I imagine).

Is Mr Brown introducing similar legislation for the Northern Territory?

NT have had at least one if not two (or more) referendums to become a state and they all failed to receive enough community support.

Does anyone here think that the local community would support a movement for the ACT to become a state? Stanhope as Premier? I doubt it.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.