
Chief Minister Gallagher has sensibly announced the utterly expected finding that the best way forward for the Legislative Assembly is a Greens and Independents screwing five electorates returning five members.
It will raise the bar for minor parties but it will stop the farce of the Molonglo electorate encompassing Woden, Inner North, Inner South, and Gungahlin.
An independent review into the size of the ACT legislative Assembly, released today by ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher, has recommended an increase to 25 members, spread across five electorates of five members, in 2016.
The report, prepared by an independent Expert Reference Group (ERG), also recommended a further increase in the size of the Assembly to 35 members in either 2020 or 2024.
Bring it on!
Elections ACT have published the full report.
UPDATE 16/04/13 16:02: The Liberals Jeremy Hanson is not impressed and would like perfection in Governance to be achieved before sorting out the iniquities of the Assembly:
“Katy Gallagher’s eagerness to expand the size of the Assembly is based on long standing Labor policy and although the Canberra Liberals will consider the reference group’s paper in some detail, I am in no rush to make a final decision on the size of the Assembly.
“This is a matter of priorities. For example, Katy Gallagher recently rejected the Canberra Liberal’s call to improve access to justice by appointing a fifth Supreme Court judge, and she rejected the Canberra Liberal’s call to establish a school for young children with autism. Katy Gallagher cited the cost of both proposals at the time, but I consider both matters to be of higher importance than more MLAs.
“We will continue to focus on issues that are of real importance to the community, and Katy Gallagher’s push for more politicians is not a high priority,” Mr Hanson concluded.