Charles Croucher: Nine News chief political editor on the Australian Government pushing for more politicians

Questions have been raised over whether adding politicians in Australia would improve law-making or just add bureaucracy.

Australia's Labor Government is pushing to add 40 members to Parliament before the 2028 election. 

Nine News chief political editor Charles Croucher says electorates are so large that it's becoming harder for single MPs to represent them. 

But he says Australia also has layers of Government to consider. 

"We're already pretty over-governed over here, it's not just the federal Parliament you've got to think about, it's state Parliament."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How do you like this idea? Looks like the Aussie
government wants more politicians. Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that
the Albanese government is pushing to add forty new seats
to their parliament, twelve in the Senate, twenty four in
the lower house. The Liberal Party is going to oppose
the change. Charles Croucher is the nine News chief Political
edit down with us. Welcome back to Charles, Hey, Heather.
Why they want to do this?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
More police? That's what the country needs, isn't it always
fixes that? Look, there is a real concern there hasn't
been an increase in the number of politicians in my lifetime.
And I wouldn't call myself old, but my knees hurt
when I wake up, and sort of that kind of age.
And the parliament's at now. The issue is that we've
now got electorates that are so large it's getting harder
to represent. There is also an imbalance between the states,

(00:44):
the larger states and the territories in particular, and that
dates back to federation. So there's a few things that
need to be ironed out to try and make representation fairer. Look,
given the way the poling is at the moment, in
the way that politics around the world is trending, I
think you'd see it more mixed parliament produced. And we

(01:04):
have that problem that you don't that any time you
increase the number of seats in the House of Representatives
so you better represent people on a per capita basis,
you've also got to bump up the seats in the Senate,
and that state by state, not per capita. So it's
finding that balancing act. This is something that's been discussed
for a little while over here. It's a proposal the
Labor Government seems set to take up and it's one

(01:25):
that given the numbers in the Parliament, has a chance
of getting through.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Now, given that particularly now politicians trust and politicians has
fallen that you know, the public is not really in
the mood for the political class. Is this going to fly?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
You wouldn't think so, would you. That's the hardest point
is making this case that you need more people to
represent you. Look, I think there's some canny politicians, particularly
around the minor parties and one nation that would see
this as a chance to get more influence into the
Parliament and more of their own people in there. But
we're already pretty over governed over here. It's not just

(01:59):
the federal parliament you've got to think about, but state parliaments.
Often the states have upper houses, and there's local councils
and local governments as well. Any time you make the
case you need more police, and more police equals more pay,
and more pay equals more staff and all the rest
that go with that, you do wonder if we are
catching more people and therefore getting the best and brightest

(02:21):
into the building in Canberra, or this is just more
people from, as you said, the political class, more staffers
that graduate to MPs, and whether that actually produces better
laws or not. Look, it's interesting. There's been lots of
chat over here and a lot of parliamentary time spent
on this, and nothing like politicians talking about themselves. But
we'll see it. Guys.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Do you reckon Elbo can waste the political capital on
this right now?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah? I think if you're going to do it at any time,
now is the time to do it. I think he would.
He could make the argument this is about representing people better,
particularly in growing and expanding cities. My concern not so
much now is if you don't do it now, I
just don't know when you would.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, Charles, it's always good to talk to you. Thank
you mate, Thanks for running us through it this Charles Croucher,
nine News chief Political Editor.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
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