The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed moves by Labor’s rank and file to debate Parliamentary reform at the upcoming ALP state conference, but said studies have already been done on the size of Parliament which recommend restoring the numbers back to 35.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said that move for broader parliamentary reform must be genuinely about providing the most democratic system Tasmania deserves, rather than be driven by perceived political self-interest.
“Genuine reform to restore the community’s confidence in the capacity of their Parliament must begin with doing what has been identified as the necessary first step which is to restore MP numbers,” Mr McKim said.
“The verdict has been in for quite some time that the politically-motivated cut in numbers of 1998 has been to the detriment of Tasmania’s democracy and Tasmanians confidence.”
“Last month saw outgoing President of the Upper House, Sue Smith describe in her valedictory speech the cut in numbers as one of the worst mistakes she witnessed during her parliamentary career.”
“All three leaders recognised the seriousness of this mistake when they signed the agreement in September 2010 to restore the Assembly numbers. This commitment must be honoured by both Labor and Liberal parties if they are genuine about ensuring Tasmanians have a functioning modern democracy.”
“Until the 1998 cut in numbers, Tasmania was recognised internationally as having one of the fairest and most democratic systems in the world, and the Greens are adamant that any moves for broader parliamentary reform must be to build upon that foundation rather than undermine it.”
“The Greens support the bicameral Westminster model, but it needs to be fully functional and the streamlined way of achieving this is to both restore numbers to provide critical mass, and reform of the excessive powers of the Legislative Council which can be used to impede good governance rather than foster it.”
“We are aware that there have been previous moves by the ALP to move for a unicameral system, and while the Greens share frustrations that the current make-up of the Legislative Council is resulting in regressive policy decisions, we do not support merely abolishing what should be reformed into a functioning modern House of Review.”
“Tasmania’s democracy has already been subjected to being experimented upon to further the base self-interests of political parties, such as the 1998 cut in numbers, and any further debates must be driven by what is best for Tasmania, not what may be best for any one political party.”
Nick McKim MP Greens Leader Tuesday, 18 June 2013
