Any expansion of federal parliament unnecessary and costly: Taylor

Angus Taylor has rejected any proposed expansion of the federal parliament after Special Minister of State Don Farrell expressed hope to achieve the task under the Albanese government.

Senator Farrell told the National Press Club on Monday that “increasing the size of parliament is what great Labor leaders do”, and although the proposal had yet to receive support, he had not given up on seeing it through.

Notably, aside from the Labor stalwart’s comments, no other government figure has publicly commented on the issue in recent months.

But NewsWire understands a parliamentary committee is leaning towards recommending a bigger parliament, and backroom talks have been going on for weeks. Senator Farrell has reportedly approaching the Nationals to discuss adding new seats in time for the next election.

The committee sentiment is based on submissions overwhelmingly backing an expansion.

Mr Taylor and Nationals counterpart Matt Canavan on Tuesday called on Anthony Albanese to “immediately rule out” adding more seats to the national legislature.

“He should rule it out today. We don’t need more politicians. We need a government focused on the Australian people,” Mr Taylor told reporters.

Senator Canavan claimed Labor was trying to keep plans to grow the parliament hidden from Australians, saying Senator Farrell had revealed the “hidden, secret plans” during his Monday comments.

“The Prime Minister needs to come clean with the Australian people about what are these plans? How long have they been worked on in secret?” he said.

“Why hasn’t he been upfront with the Australian people about a plan to massively increase the size of parliament at the cost of more than half a billion dollars?”

The Coalition claimed the addition of 24 House of Representatives members and 14 senators would cost more than $600m as per Parliamentary Budget Office costings.

Despite the rapid growth of Australia’s population, the size of the federal parliament has not changed since 1984.

Data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union shows that every Australian federal parliamentarian represents 116,524 people.

The international average sits at approximately 112,500 per parliamentarian

Mr Taylor was grilled on that point and asked if his position denied Australians better representation.

“So you’re right, the Australian population is growing at a record rate. The economy, in total, has grown by 7.5 per cent since Labor came to power,” he responded.

“The population of Australia has grown by 7.5 per cent. It’s the same number. That’s why we’re all feeling poorer.

“This is strategy – grow the population at a rate we’ve never seen before and then they think the answer is to have more politicians. I mean, seriously.”

A spokesperson for Senator Farrell’s office told NewsWire that the minister had been “clear”.

“He is awaiting the findings of the (Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters) and will show the committee the respect it deserves of not pre-empting their important work,” they said.

“The only party fixated on this enough to have done costings is the Coalition.

“The government is focused on fuel security and cost-of-living relief for Australians.

“This is clearly not about the policy or issues; it’s about the internal audition for attention in the Coalition.”

Submissions to the committee have largely argued that Australia’s growing population would be better served by smaller electorates.

In a submission last year, the Melbourne-based Grattan Institute said a “material lift in the size of parliament would be needed to meaningfully achieve a more even distribution of voters per electorate nationally” and “bring Australia closer to middle of the pack internationally on inhabitants per parliamentarian”.

While the committee has taken a positive view on expanding parliament, deliberations are ongoing, with submissions closing on Saturday and an interim report due later this year.

The final report will not be handed down until 2027, and NewsWire understands it is unlikely that new seats could be carved out before the next federal election.