The Tasmanian Greens will this week give all three political parties a chance to fulfil a tripartite 2010 commitment to restore the House of Assembly to 35 Members
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said that the Greens’ Parliamentary Reform (Restore Assembly Numbers) Bill 2012 would be brought on for debate on Wednesday.
“This is about increasing the capacity of the Parliament to make good decisions on behalf of the Tasmanian people, and it’s something all three parties agreed to do in 2010,” Mr McKim said.
“When the Labor and Liberal parties colluded to slash in MP numbers in 1998, it harmed the capacity of the Parliament to deliver the best possible outcomes for Tasmanians.”
“No doubt the usual armchair experts will try to argue that now is not the time for this reform, but frankly that’s a pack of nonsense.”
“The cost of restoring the numbers will be insignificant, when you consider it against the overall benefits to Tasmania of having an effective and efficient Parliament.”
“When times are tough it is even more important that Parliament and Cabinet make good decisions.”
“The cut in numbers practically emptied Government of a backbench, meaning that the pool of experienced parliamentarians available to populate ministries is too small.”
“It has gridlocked the committee system, and created unmanageable workloads for Parliamentarians, Ministers and Parliamentary staff.”
“A larger Parliament will mean that that whoever is elected to govern in future has the deepest possible talent pool to populate the Cabinet.”
“It will increase the access all Tasmanians have to their political representatives, and remove bottlenecks from the committee system.”
“There is not one, single member of the House of Assembly that disagrees with the need to restore the House of Assembly to 35 Members.”
“Some pundits will try to say that this is about the Greens trying to increase their overall representation in the House, but there is no evidence to suggest that is will happen.”
“The House of Assembly numbers were slashed in 1998 in an attempt to kill off the Greens, but it failed dismally and we’re still here, still going strong.”
LINKS:
• Parliamentary Reform (Restore Assembly Numbers) Bill: http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/bills/pdf/61_of_2012.pdf
• Agreement for Parliamentary Reform: http://mps.tas.greens.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Agreement-for-Parliamentary-Reform.pdf . Signed 02/09/2010 by then-Labor Premier David Bartlett, Liberal Leader Will Hodgman and Greens Leader Nick McKim.
Nick McKim MP Greens Leader
