SA election 2018: Nick Xenophon plans to reduce the number of MPs in state Parliament

EIGHTEEN state MPs would be out of a job under Nick Xenophon’s plan to shake up the political system he says is failing South Australia.

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EIGHTEEN state MPs would be out of a job under Nick Xenophon’s plan to shake up the political system he says is failing South Australia.

Revealing his first policy since announcing he would run for State Parliament at the March election, the SA Best supremo has pledged to reduce the number of SA MPs from 69 to 51.

Senator Xenophon says the move — which would also include halving the terms of Upper House MPs from eight years to four — would save taxpayers $6 million a year.

“It’s about having SA more in line with other states and sending a signal that MPs should work harder,” Senator Xenophon, above, said.

“If we cut 18 MPs from Parliament, I’m sure they won’t be missed by South Australians, who don’t know who they are in the first place.”

The Sunday Mail can reveal Lower House MPs would be cut from 47 to 34 and Upper House representation trimmed from 22 to 17 under the plan.

Eighteen state MPs would be out of a job under Nick Xenophon’s plan to shake up the political system he says is failing South Australia.

Senator Xenophon said the plan would also lead to fewer ministers. The number of voters for each Lower House seat would grow to 35,000 — 10,000 more than now — and bring South Australia in line with Queensland, which has 35,427 voters for each seat, according to Australian Electoral Commission figures. SA would still be well below Victoria (46,178 voters for each state seat) and NSW (55,815).

Axing the MPs would save taxpayers $3.6 million a year based on the salaries of all non-frontbenchers. But Senator Xen­ophon said associated office closures and reductions in entitlements would leave taxpayers $6 million a year better off.

The changes were needed to “put a rocket up MPs” and expel the complacency that had invaded state politics — causing SA to fall behind under a failing political system.

His announcement follows a decision to trim the number of federal electorates in SA from 11 to 10 because of a decline in the state’s population.

“It’s a commonsense policy I would like to think would be popular for the simple reason (without change) there would be 47 Lower House state MPs and 10 federal ones,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect state MPs to have more doors to knock.”

Senator Xenophon has continually hit out at SA as “politically bankrupt” during his pledge to contest the state seat of Hartley and told the Sunday Mail his proposal would put MPs on notice. Under his plan, all 17 Upper House MPs would face an election each four years, on an all-in, all-out basis. Currently just 11 Upper House MPs face the voters at each state election, serving out eight-year terms, which Senator Xenophon criticised as “anachronistic”.

“There seems to be a culture of complacency where people seem to be happy with their lot while the state faces a series of problems,” he said. “Preselection to become a candidate in a winnable seat shouldn’t be seen as some sort of reward for service in a political machine.”

He denied his policy was a ploy to make it easier for him to form government in the future.

He said the policy was “one of the conditions” but did not rule out doing a deal with Labor or the Liberals if they refused to support it, as expected.

“The main thing is to get a better, more efficient Parliament,” he said.

The Opposition supports keeping 47 Lower House seats, fearing any decrease would stretch country electorates.

The Queensland Parliament voted six months ago to increase its electoral districts from 89 to 93. Tasmania cut its Lower House seats from 35 to 25 in 1998.