Senator SCULLION (1:00 PM) —I recognise and acknowledge the time constraints in the Senate today, but it would be remiss of me as a senator for the Northern Territory not to speak on the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Representation in the House of Representatives) Bill 2004 to briefly and wholeheartedly support it. Adequate representation for Territorians has been an issue throughout history, as Territorians have a slightly different view from other people around Australia about the nature of their representation in parliament. The constitutional history of the Territory since we became a body politic subject to the rule of the Commonwealth government has not always ensured respect for the democratic rights of Territorians in terms of equity. Even 103 years after Federation, the democratically elected parliament of the Northern Territory can still be overruled by this place. Territorians do not count as full voting Australians in a referendum. Given that background, I hope that members of this place can understand why Territorians may have a slightly different view on the determination of the committee.

This bill has, temporarily, fixed a very important dilemma. The Northern Territory faced a cut of 50 per cent in our House of Representatives seats but a loss of only a few per cent in terms of representation of our population. As the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters established, the margin of error was around plus or minus 2,600 people and there was a shortfall of 295 people to obtain another seat. It was not equitable and the committee very rightly pointed out that we should change the way we approach our interpretation of those statistics to ensure that this shift in the population—because it fell within the standard deviation—will not have this effect again. This bill will ensure that any change in circumstances is at least tied in with the process used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for its support and my colleague Northern Territory Senator Trish Crossin for her support. I would also like to acknowledge the tremendous work of the member for Solomon, Dave Tollner. He shouted long and hard about this issue and introduced a private member's bill when there were several others saying that nothing could be done. The bill has solved the problem for now. I would have to agree with my colleague in the other place that the Territory should be guaranteed two seats in the House of Representatives and that changes in the statistical process made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at whim should not interfere with our democratic rights in terms of equity for this percentage of the population. I will continue to fight in every forum for equity for the Northern Territory, both for statehood and for a guarantee that the minimum number of seats in the House of Representatives will be two.