By Gerry Wood

I travelled to northern Canada back in 2015 to study a form of government called ‘consensus government’, which operates in two territories in that country: Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In a consensus government, instead of parties, all members are independents, and the members who don’t become ministers hold a significant balance of power.

My reason for doing this was because many people including myself were becoming disillusioned with the party system. I had enjoyed being an independent when in parliament here, as it gave me a freedom that party members, especially members of the Labor party, do not have.

For instance, during debates in parliament you would think there were only two points of view when the two parties were arguing the toss on a particular subject. I was once accused of sitting on the fence by an ABC breakfast announcer during a debate, to which I replied that there was more than just Fords and Holdens, there were Toyotas.

I didn’t have to follow a party line. I had my own view. At question time I could ask questions which related to my electorate, not a predetermined strategy the opposition had of its question time agenda.

If we had a parliament of independents, they would all have that same freedom. That’s what I saw in the Nunavut and the Northwest Territories parliaments. I spent a number of days sitting in their parliaments listening to their debates and also listening in on their committee meetings.

How parliament works in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories

Firstly, the parliaments still operate using the Westminster system as in the NT.

With independents, they are elected, not on what they can promise which they can’t do anyway, but on what they stand for, and who they are.

In Nunavut, after the general election, and usually within 10 days, the clerk brings in all elected members to the capital city of Iqaluit, for an orientation program. During that time, all members will offer comments as to what they, as individuals, see as priorities. Then towards the end of orientation the speaker, the premier and the ministers are elected by secret ballot.

The premier and the ministers become the “government” and the members who are not elected to the cabinet become the regular members. They act like an opposition, questioning ministers about their portfolios.

There are always more of them than the government, so the government is always a minority government and ministers can get voted out by members if they don’t perform.

The premier appoints portfolios to the ministers and can change that around as he or she wishes. The premier cannot remove a minister from cabinet. Presently there are 22 members including the speaker, seven ministers and the premier. Once the premier and the cabinet are in place, they then do their priority-setting exercise, and present it to all members for their input and recommendations at a special full caucus meeting.

In the year I was there, this assembly meeting took place in Kugluktuk in western Nunavut, which lasted three days. At the end of the meeting, a press release was issued by the chair of the full caucus advising the public on what priorities were agreed upon. All of these priorities were then articulated in the commissioner’s address (throne speech) at the next sitting of the legislature.

In the Northwest Territories, that list of priorities is printed and displayed in the parliament building for all to see.

The commissioner is the equivalent of our administrator. Consensus governments work together through the caucus system. The full caucus consists of all MLAs including the speaker. The regular members’ caucus does not include ministers or the speaker.

The regular members serve on various standing committees as well as planning activities in the house. These committees have specific functions and have a much greater role in overseeing the operations of government than happens in the Northern Territory.

One of the great advantages of consensus government is that it can reinstate the three parts of our Westminster system, the courts, the executive and the legislature as they were meant to operate, independently of one another.

The trend today in government, which can be seen in our own Territory government, is that the executive, because of its majority, controls the Legislative Assembly and therefore controls the legislative branch of government.

This means there is really only two parts; an all-powerful executive and the courts. The government can do what it likes, aka the Territory.

In consensus government, the executive in relation to the number of members it has in the house, is always in the minority. Some may think this unworkable, but in practice what it means is that the executive and the regular members have to work together for the benefit of their territory, and are not stuck opposing everything or being obstructionist for the sake of their party as we see in our parliament.

Parliament operates like in the NT with a few differences

One interesting difference is that young people who are attending school regularly can be chosen to act as pages. They dress in traditional costume and sit at the front and back of the assembly. Their job is to make sure each member has a glass of cold water. It might be a cold climate, but the air is very dry and water is essential, especially for those speaking. They also deliver messages and documents to other members or the table officers.

Question time is also different. There is one hour set aside for questions, but it can be extended for another half an hour. First, there are no ’Dorothy Dixers’ (questions by government members to itself) because only the regular members (the opposition) ask the questions. Members wave a hand to get the attention of the speaker, and only stand when recognised by the speaker. They are not only allowed to ask a question, but can also ask two supplementary questions so a minister can’t escape if the first answer needs more explanation.

Members don’t focus on just one line of questioning which, in the Northern Territory, is a tactic used by an opposition to attack the government. Members ask a whole range of questions on many topics: vacant staff housing; a plebiscite on alienation of municipal lands’ status of midwifery in Nunavut; the impact of the federal budget on marine infrastructure in Nunavut; and much more. It was good hearing questions that were relevant to each local member.

When I was there, the parliament time was shortened in the afternoon so that the full caucus (everybody) could meet. This meeting was to discuss with airline executives the number of airline companies operating in the region with the hopeful outcome that companies would co-share so there were not half empty planes flying around. I was allowed to sit in on that meeting.

I found the whole experience so refreshing. That is not to say it works perfectly.

Even though there are no parties, obviously there will be informal alignments, which is natural.

“We do not have legislation that supports party politics,” the chief electoral officer for Northwest Territories Nicole Latour said.

“However, that doesn’t prevent individuals from collectively adopting a common platform and running as candidates in one, some or all of the districts. However, in accordance with our legislation, they would be responsible to adhere to the law in its present form and, for example, would not be permitted to pool their campaign fund or anything that would model being a collective political party. They will be filing their candidates’ financial report as individuals.”

I reckon that’s how it should be here.

Of course, political parties still exist in the Canadian federal parliament and, of course, there will be those who prefer the party system, but the majority of people still prefer the consensus government.

This is the way we should run our parliament in the NT.

It may be difficult to achieve as the parties wouldn’t want to give up the power they have, but you never know, we may one day have enough independents in parliament to force a change, or if we ever get statehood, then it might be written into our constitution so that we become the first consensus parliament in Australia.

I have only touched on a little of what I learnt, but if you want to learn more you can go to the website of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories, or I can send you a detailed copy of my report on my trip if you email wood.gerry11@gmail.com.

Gerry Wood is the former independent Member for Nelson and served as the rural electorate’s MLA for 19 years in the Northern Territory Parliament before retiring at the last election.