ELECTION REFORM ON CARR'S LIST

The Carr Government plans to press ahead with reforms to the Upper House in
the session of Parliament that begins today.

It will also move to implement reforms arising from the Drug Summit,
including the trials of a legal injecting room and a police cautioning
system for people with small amounts of cannabis.

To stop the proliferation of micro-parties and the "tablecloth" ballot
paper produced at the March election, the Government will introduce
legislation to increase the number of members required to form a political
party from 200 to 1,000 and introduce a registration fee of $3,500.The
Government believes it has bipartisan support for the legislation, which
would also require parties to be registered for a year before they could
nominate candidates for election. But its plans for more far-reaching
reform, including cutting the number of MLCs by eight and ending the Upper
House's power to block legislation, are on hold because of a lack of
support from Opposition and cross-bench MPs.

Legislative changes will effectively create a legal sanctuary for a safe
injecting room run by the Sisters of Charity at Kings Cross.A spokesman for
the Opposition Leader, Mrs Chikarovski, said the Coalition would wait to
see the legislation before deciding its position.