Budgeting for statehood in the Northern Territory

Abstract

The theme of this important collection of essays is "Budgeting for Statehood in the Northern Territory". All of the contributors were asked to consider some of the unique aspects of the Northern Territory when studying the budgeting aspects associated with achieving Statehood. Constitutional development lies at the heart of this process.The Draft Constitution During the August 1996 sittings of Parliament in the Northern Territory, an historic occasion occurred with the tabling of the Territory's Draft Constitution. The document was the Final Draft Constitution as prepared by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Sessional Committee on Constitutional Development. It was with a great deal of pride that I tabled that historic document. For me, together with a dedicated group of people, it represented a decade's work. The constitutional process towards producing the draft document began in 1985 and drew support from a small group of Territory politicians from both sides of the Assembly, and their support staff. There was widespread community consultation and it was a slow, sometimes tedious, often frustrating process, involving much research, a lot of paper, many public hearings and submissions, and lengthy debate and deliberations within the Committee. In total, the Sessional Committee on Constitutional Development received 141 written submissions and numerous other verbal submissions. The Committee now has a regular mailing list of close to 4000 and produced a number of publications to its credit and has been involved in many related activities. Overall, the process of constitution-making has been an open, democratic process, with maximum opportunity for input by all the community. As Territorians, we are charged not only with writing our own constitution, but also ensuring that the homegrown constitution will also benefit future Territory societies. The Constitution will be required to operate in the interests of all sections of the Territory community and it is obviously important to produce a workable document. The views of all Territorians are important as we move towards Statehood in the year 2001. <...> Show more