Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday, April 27, 1999
Push is on for Upper House changes
By MARK ROBINSON
Reform of the NSW Upper House appears inevitable after all the major
parties agreed yesterday on the need to cut the number of minor parties
gaining seats with only a tiny portion of the votes.
The National Party went further, proposing changes to the Legislative
Council's powers, including ending its ability to block indefinitely
Government legislation.
A day after the Treasurer, Mr Egan, pushed for the abolition of the
Upper House, the Nationals' leader, Mr Souris, said it should have 30
MPs instead of 42.
That would mean an increase of more than 50 per cent in the number of
votes required by candidates to get elected.
The push for reform follows final election results, which gave seats to
seven minor party MPs - three with 1 per cent or less of the primary
vote - from a record field of 264 candidates whose names filled a ballot
paper the size of a tablecloth.
Labor and the Coalition indicated they would support an increase in the
number of members a party needed to be registered, and agreed parties
should be registered for 12 months before the election.
The State Government said it would introduce legislation proposing the
longer registration period and raising the minimum party membership from
200 to 1,000. Mr Souris said the required number of party members should
be 2,000.
The confidence of voters had been severely shaken by the election, he
said, and there was widespread public support for change.
"It should be done now while we are of the view that reform is necessary."
Mr Souris stopped short of backing Mr Egan's call for the Upper House to
be abolished, saying he was "50-50" on the idea.
However, reducing its numbers by 12 would increase the required number
of votes to be elected from 160,000 to about 245,000, or from 4.5 per
cent to more than 6 per cent of the vote.
Ending its powers to delay any Government bill for more than 12 months
would bring it into line with other houses of review in the Westminster
system, including the House of Lords, Mr Souris said.
The Opposition Leader, Mrs Chikarovski, backed the call for reform and
confirmed her support for increasing the number of party members and the
time that parties had to be registered.
A group of Liberal MPs had been assigned to review all aspects of the
Upper House, including its composition, functions and powers. Once that
process was complete, reform options would be put forward for public
debate, Mrs Chikarovski said.
"I think we do need to ensure that the Upper House is really one of review."
Upper House results made public on Saturday boosted the campaign for
reform, particularly after it was revealed that the Outdoor Recreation
Party's leader, Mr Malcolm Jones, had been elected despite getting just
7,264 primary votes.
Mr Jones defended his election yesterday, saying he had been given the
preferences of more than 40 parties which supported his party's central
commitment that everybody should have access to public land.
"The rules are the rules and if we got a lot of support I'm certainly
not going to be an apologist for it," he said.
The election of the seven minor-party MPs brings to 13 the number of
cross-benchers in the Upper House. Labor will have 16 MPs in the new
Parliament and the Coalition 13.
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