Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as one of the co-sponsors, along with Senator McCarthy and Senators McMahon, McKenzie, Canavan, Davey and McDonald, to support this legislation to ensure appropriate and fair representation for the people of the Northern Territory in the federal parliament. At the outset I will follow the lead of Senator McGrath in congratulating the Leader of the Opposition for last weekend's election in the Northern Territory. I extend my congratulations to the Chief Minister, Mr Gunner, who we hope has, in the most difficult of circumstances, been returned to majority government. I can see Senator Smith nodding there. I had the great privilege of working with Mr Gunner in the 1990s when he was an official of the shop assistants union—that great union—and it does appear that at some time either today or tomorrow, when the counting is completed, we will find that he has been returned with a majority government in the Northern Territory and will continue the terrific work that he's been doing, particularly in the circumstances of the pandemic.

As I said, I am a co-sponsor of the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Ensuring Fair Representation of the Northern Territory) Bill 2020 and support very much the legislation in terms of its extension to the Northern Territory or maintenance of the current position. I note that one of the people who made a very clear submission to the inquiry into this bill was, in fact, the Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory, who made it very clear that she would like to see the continuation of two seats for the Northern Territory. I am aware that there are other people who would like to speak on this topic who are from the Northern Territory, so I am happy to associate myself with the remarks of Senator McCarthy and complete my comments at this point.