The ACT needs an extra 10 politicians to manage the growing workload of the Legislative Assembly and the expansion is a more cost-effective answer than adding local councils, a major review of territory governance has said.
The Assembly should expand to 35 members in line with earlier reviews in a move that would likely need to wait until 2032 to come into effect, the review quietly released last week recommended.
"The problem in the ACT is not insufficient safeguards and procedures, which is the problem in many other jurisdictions," the review said.
"The problem is that an insufficient number of elected members of the Assembly presents a risk that many of the territory's achievements will be undermined."
The Latimer House principles review examined the way the self-government functions in the ACT and how the separation of parliamentary, executive and judicial powers works in practice.
"The reviewers are mindful of the current concern about the fiscal position of the territory. The reviewers do not suggest that the establishment of local councils is the answer to the workload issues identified above," the review said.
"The far more cost-effective, parliamentary solution is to increase the number of Members of the Legislative Assembly to 35, as previously recommended."
ACT Greens deputy leader Andrew Braddock welcomed the findings in the wake of a corruption report released on Thursday that prompted Labor's Yvette Berry to quit the frontbench, arguing even good systems needed vigilant oversight and enough members to scrutinise the executive.
The Assembly in 2014 voted to expand from 17 to 25 members, but a 2013 report commissioned by then-chief minister Katy Gallagher recommended the chamber grow again to 25 at the 2016 election and 35 in 2020. The size of the Assembly has remained at 25.
"Those past recommendations are being vindicated," said Mr Braddock, whose party has long backed an increase to the size of the Assembly.
In March 2024, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said there was no present case to expand the Assembly and the cost of more office accommodation would put a "handbrake" on any expansion push.
The periodic review, which is conducted every two terms, was completed by David Blunt, Andrew Young and Gabrielle Appleby, who are affiliated with the Centre for Public Integrity.
Mr Blunt and Mr Young are both long-serving former state parliament clerks and Professor Appleby is a professor of public law at UNSW Sydney.
The review made 33 recommendations, which included calling for the establishment of a statutory independent panel to recommend who should be appointment as judges, magistrates and the president of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal in the ACT.
Attorney-General Tara Cheyne last week defended changes to the appointment process that allow her to bypass an expressions of interest process for new judges and magistrates in favour of direct recommendations to cabinet with the support of key legal system stakeholders.
The Commonwealth Latimer House principles, adopted by the Legislative Assembly in 2008, are intended to describe best practice for the relationship between parliament, the executive and the judiciary.
The Assembly should also consider "requiring all members (ministers and non-ministers) to report on meetings held with third party and in-house lobbyists, separate from any requirement for ministerial diaries to be published", the report said.
Mr Barr in 2025 sought support for all members to be forced to regularly publish diaries detailing official meetings to boost transparency in the Assembly, but a parliamentary committee found no case for the rule.
