Move to double the Territory’s senators gathers momentum in new submission to parliamentary committee

The NT has just two senators while other Australian states have 12 each but that may be about to change. Here’s why.

A public submission on electoral matters has recommended the Territory have double the number of senators sitting in Canberra than the current two.

The Australia Institute has called for the NT and the ACT to have four senators in the federal senate, rather than two.

Currently, the NT’s two elected senators are Labor’s Malarndirri McCarthy and the CLP’s Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Every other Australian state elects 12 senators.

It means Tasmania, with just double the NT’s population, has six times the representation in the upper house.

CLP’s Jacinta Price became an NT senator in the 2022 federal election. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The recommendation marks one of the think-tank’s five key parliamentary reforms, with outlawing misinformation in political ads and donation reforms also put forward.

Australia Institute’s democracy and accountability program director Bill Browne said the Territory was under-represented in national politics.

“Increasing the number of senators to four per territory would go some way to correcting this imbalance,” Mr Browne said.

“It would also guarantee that both major parties are represented among each territory’s cohort.”

The submission, made to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, also called for the number of parliamentarians to increase by 50 per cent.

“Our research shows that Australia has too few parliamentarians,” Mr Browne said.

“While not a popular sentiment, the data shows it to be true.

“The number of parliamentarians has not increased since the 1980s.

“Australia Institute polling shows most Australians cannot name their local member and would not feel confident speaking to them about an issue.”

The Territory has just two federal MPs – Solomon’s Luke Gosling and Lingiari’s Marion Scrymgour.

Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Affairs. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

In July, Ms McCarthy backed a call by Special Minister of State Don Farrell to double the number of senators.

The report also highlighted poor enrolment and voter turnout among the Territory’s Indigenous communities.

“Australia has a strong history of electoral inclusion,” Mr Browne said.

“The one significant blemish on that record has been the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voters.

“Indigenous participation continues to be significantly lower than participation of the rest of the population.”

Mr Browne said this was “dramatically highlighted” during the 2022 federal election in Ms Scrymgour’s Lingiari seat, which had voter enrolment of between 75 and 80 per cent and voter turnout of 67 per cent.

He said more needed to be done to improve election education, engagement and access in remote communities.

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Originally published as Move to double the Territory’s senators gathers momentum in new submission to parliamentary committee