Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters

Inquiry into the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Ensuring Fair Representation of the ) Bill 2020

Submission from former Senator TRISH CROSSIN It’s my pleasure to provide the Committee with a submission regarding this legislation. As outlined in the Explanatory Memorandum this Bill seeks to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to provide for a minimum of two divisions for the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives. Having represented people from the Northern Territory and the Indian Ocean Territories for fifteen years, I believe that this legislation must be supported. I am well qualified through my work, experience and knowledge of representation and electoral laws to provide a number of reasons for ensuring that the NT maintains at least two seats. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND As we know, when the Commonwealth was formed as a federation with the six states, the Northern Territory was part of South . The Constitution, under Section 122 gives the Federal Parliament the power to grant representation to the Territories. Since 1984, the allocation of representation to the territories has been determined by the same formula that applied to states. So while the Constitution determines the allocation of members to states, representation for the territories is determined by legislation and can be changed by parliament. As was expected, the Australian Electoral Commission has recently determined following an examination of this formula, conducted after the last Federal election, the Northern Territory will lose one of its two seats. This is due to a decrease in the population, which means that there is no provision under the entitlement quota for the second seat. In accordance with provisions of the Electoral Act, this determination was made using data supplied by the Australian Statistician as at 31 December 2019 and published on 18 June 2020. I was in the Senate the last time there was a determination to remove one House of Representatives seat from the Northern Territory. Due to population statistics and calculations, the Northern Territory went from having one seat to two seats in the House of Representatives, to then find that at the next election, the Territory would have that seat taken from it. The evidence from that time through inquiries and estimates will show that there were real and genuine concerns about the accuracy of the ABS Census data. There are always considerable problems with the census count and further examination will reveal that people, particularly in remote communities do not hand back their census form, may not be in their community when the ABS is present and this results in a significant undercount, particularly amongst indigenous people. The work done during that last attempt to remove one seat from the NT showed that that in all of the calculations the degree of error in the Northern Territory is three times the degree of error in the rest of the country. The process used by the AEC to determine the number of seats relies on the population statistics. However when you consider the outcome of the census, the probability of the degree of error and the fluctuation in population (due to the nature of the industries that rely on major projects), then it is time there was a permanent guarantee of the number of seats. In the space of six federal elections, less than 20 years, this matter has come before the Federal Parliament twice so it is time that a minimum of two seats was legislated. SIZE OF ELECTORATE The Territories are treated differently from the states in the way the seats are allocated. States and territory entitlements are calculated by dividing the total population figure for the Commonwealth, but excluding territory populations, by twice the number of Senators for the States, not the Territories to obtain the population quota. The AEC website has determined that the current quota will be 172,537.01389. This is then divided into the total population, of the states and territories, which determine the number of seats. However in the case of the NT the population statistic used 247,280 which do not include the people on Cocos or Christmas Island. In fact these people are also not factored into the people of the Commonwealth (only the six states) so are totally overlooked under these calculations. When the arithmetic formula is applied then the NT becomes the absolute largest electorate in the country in terms of the number of people you would be expected to represent. Including Cocos and Christmas Island, the total population is 249, 799 giving this seat 77,262 over the AEC population quota for each seat under this latest determination. I have included a list and description of the current 5 largest electorates. If the NT was reduced to having only one seat then the number of electors enrolled would be 139,359 (current Solomon and Lingiari figures). 139,359 compared to Durack 97,104 or Leichardt 109,458 or Kennedy 107,679 or Maranoa 105,051. This is at least 30,000 more than any of the other larger seats. Clearly the current formula applied by the AEC, based on population, severely impacts on the ability to represent fairly and adequately the people in the NT compared to other states.

FAIR AND GENUINE REPRESENTATION The need to legislate a guarantee of at least two seats for the NT must now take into consideration the physical location of the people, including cities, towns, regional centres, remote communities and homelands. Since the allocation of only one seat, there have been vast changes, expansion and needs of people across the NT. The information below, from the AEC website, has a description of the location of each seat. Durack, Kennedy, Leichardt and Maranoa are quite extensive. Name: Durack Location: Durack covers a large area from Kununurra in the north to Quairading in the south and includes coastal islands. The division includes the Cities of Greater Geraldton and Karratha and the Shires of Broome, Carnarvon, Cunderdin, Dandaragan, Derby-West Kimberley, East Pilbara, Exmouth, Goomalling, Narembeen, Quairading, Sandstone, Shark Bay, Victoria Plains, Wiluna and Yilgarn. Area: 1,629,858 Sq km Electors enrolled: 97,104 (at 7.6.2019) VOTED: 81,613

Name: Leichhardt Location: The Division of Leichhardt consists of: Aurukun Shire Council, Cook Shire Council, Douglas Shire Council, Hope Vale Aboriginal Shire Council, Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council, Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council, Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council, Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council, Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, Pormpuraaw Aboriginal Shire Council, Torres Shire Council, Torres Strait Island Regional Council, Weipa Town Council, Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council, part of the Cairns Regional Council, part of the Carpentaria Shire Council, and part of the Mareeba Shire Council. Area: 148,559 Sq km Electors enrolled: 109,458 (at 10.6.2019) VOTED: 95,945 Name: Kennedy Location: The Division of Kennedy consists of: Boulia Shire Council, Burke Shire Council, Cassowary Coast Regional Council, Charters Towers Regional Shire Council, Cloncurry Shire Council, Croydon Shire Council, Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire Council, Etheridge Shire Council, Flinders Shire Council, McKinlay Shire Council, Mornington Shire Council, Mt Isa City Council, Richmond Shire Council, Tablelands Regional Council, Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council, part of the Burdekin Shire Council, part of the Cairns Regional Council, part of the Carpentaria Shire Council, part of the Hinchinbrook Shire Council, part of the Mareeba Shire Council, and part of the Townsville City Council. Area: 567,377 Sq km Electors enrolled: 107,679 (at 8.6.2019) VOTED: 95,944 Name: Maranoa Location: The Division of Maranoa consists of: Balonne Shire Council, Barcaldine Regional Council, Barcoo Shire Council, Blackall Tambo Regional Council, Bulloo Shire Council, Diamantina Shire Council, Goondiwindi Regional Council, Longreach Regional Council, Maranoa Regional Council, Murweh Shire Council, Paroo Shire Council, Quilpie Shire Council, Western Downs Regional Council, Winton Shire Council, part of the South Burnett Regional Council, part of the Southern Downs Regional Council, and part of the Toowoomba Regional Council. Area: 729,897 Sq km Electors enrolled: 105,051 (at 10.6.2019)

Name: Lingiari Location: Lingiari covers the majority of the Northern Territory, with the exception of the Darwin Municipality and most of the Palmerston Municipality. Lingiari includes the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island. Area: 1,348,158 Sq km Electors enrolled: 70,023 (at 6.6.2019) But in fact the description for Lingiari should say: Lingiari covers the majority of the Northern Territory, with the exception of the Darwin Municipality and some of the Palmerston Municipality. Lingiari includes the towns of , Katherine, , Jabiru and Nhulunbuy, as well as Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island. It also includes the Shires of Barkly, Belyuen, Central Desert, Coomalie, East Arnhem, Litchfield, MacDonnell, Roper Gulf, Tiwi Islands, Victoria Daly and Wagait. The determination for one seat fails to acknowledge how unfair and undemocratic it would be for the people in the NT to have access their local member. The distance between Darwin and Alice Springs is 1495kms……the distance between Melbourne and Brisbane is 1686kms. Travel from one end of the NT to the other requires plane travel and overnight stays….at it does to visit Tennant Creek or Nhulunbuy. There are a number of large communities off the coast of the NT including the Tiwi Islands, Galiwinku, and Groote Eylandt. A visit to Christmas and Cocos Island takes 10 days as you need to fly to Perth, fly from Perth to the Islands and then return subject to only a twice weekly service. Most indigenous communities are now becoming major population centres such as Wadeye, Milingimbi, Mutitjulu, , Numbulwar, Ngukurr and Borroloola and in time will exceed the number of people living in Tennant Creek. There are also more than 50 remote indigenous communities and hundreds of homelands and these all deserve to have access to their federal representative as often as is feasible. The needs and demands of the large population base in Darwin and Palmerston makes travel, accessibility, detailed knowledge of the community issues, attendance at major and important events combined with the workload of the Parliament (sittings and committee work) extremely difficult to execute and manage. My current electorate of Gellibrand is only 124sq kms, with 111,194 enrolled yet someone the NT (whether they live in Darwin or Mutitjulu) would only have the same access to one member. This is grossly unfair, fails to meet their democratic right to equal representation and needs to be addressed by giving the NT, at least two seats in the Federal Parliament by the passage of this legislation.

Kind Regards,

Trish Crossin Former Senator for the NT (1998-2013) 10 July 2020