Not healthy for democracy: calls for more MPs shot down
The prime minister thwarted a push to expand parliament by contradicting his minister, who was waiting for a review of the election before calling.
Anthony Albanese went further than he did days ago when he said he was happy with the size of the lower house.
“I have never been for one minute engaged in expanding the size of the House of Representatives,” he told the National Press Club on Thursday.
Commenting before ACT senator and Chancellor of the Exchequer Katy Gallagher, who supports better Senate representation in the region, he acknowledged this was not a uniform view even within his own party.
Special Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Don Farrell also said he wanted to wait for the inquiry to report back before reviewing any changes that now appear to be outdated.
Labor had promised in its national policy platform to increase the number of senators per region from two to four.
This is something independent ACT senator David Pocock has also insisted on, saying the aim of the upper house is equal representation.
There are 12 senators in the states and two senators in the regions.
That means Tasmania, which had 576,000 people as of September 30, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, had 12 senators, while the ACT had 486,000 people and two upper house members.
Any increase in the Senate would need to be accompanied by more MPs in the lower house due to the requirement of proportionality between the two houses.
The inquiry into the 2025 federal election, chaired by a Labor MP, is reviewing the expanded parliament to determine whether MPs can adequately represent their growing electorate as the population grows.
“I think there were about 90,000 people in my seat when I was elected, now there is an argument that there are about 145,000 people,” Mr Albanese said.
“I understand all that, but in today’s world… I have to respond to the real world as it is, and the kind of campaign against expanding parliament, in my opinion, would not be healthy for our democracy.”
His comments came after the coalition announced on Tuesday it would oppose any push to expand parliament and said the government should focus on cost-of-living pressures.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the cost of expanding parliament by 24 lower house MPs and 14 senators was $620 million, as calculated by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
He attributed this to salaries, staff, travel and office expenses over eight years.
Each electorate includes about 120,000 voters and thousands of voters who are not on the ballot, such as minors and non-citizens.
