00:00It might not be the most impressive looking Parliamentary building in Australia, but the
00:06ACT's Legislative Assembly could be the most unique.
00:10First sitting in 1989, the Assembly combines the powers of a state government with the
00:15functions of a local council.
00:18The only jurisdiction in the country to do so, and for those elected, it can be hard
00:22to juggle.
00:23It is a heavy workload, but when you come into it, you should know that it's a heavy
00:30workload.
00:31There are some jobs that are not 9-5, this is definitely one of them.
00:36And that workload has long fuelled a debate about the size of the Assembly.
00:40It started as 17 members, before increasing in 2016 to the current number of 25.
00:47At the time, an independent review recommended a further increase to 35 members at the 2020
00:54or 2024 elections, but there's been no movement.
00:58It's time for the ACT to grow up and recognise that we actually need to put our boots on
01:04and do this job properly.
01:06Anne-Carl Lambert was part of the group tasked with conducting the review of the Assembly's
01:11size.
01:12More than a decade on, she's still steadfastly of the view there needs to be more MLAs.
01:17It's a bit like giving a politician a pay rise.
01:20No one's ever going to agree to that.
01:22So you need to pull it out of the politician's hands and make an independent decision.
01:26If you compare the ACT with Tasmania, there's a similar population, but a stark difference
01:31in political representation.
01:33The island state not only has a 35-member lower house, but a 15-member upper house.
01:38And on top of that, there are 29 local councils, with a total of 263 councillors.
01:45Despite that, concerns about the sustainability and effectiveness of the state's parliament
01:50prompted a recent increase of 10 additional politicians.
01:54The idea of increasing the size of parliament, electing it and paying more politicians is
02:00never popular.
02:02So I think it's really important that there is that broad community support.
02:07Any increase to the number of politicians here needs to be supported by two-thirds of
02:12MLAs.
02:13But Chief Minister Andrew Barr has made it clear there is no appetite for any change
02:18this parliamentary term.
02:19What may have to be foregone in order to fund more politicians, and is that what people
02:25are willing to accept?
02:28A tough sell, but it's a conversation that won't go away.
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