Labor abandons plans to double ACT Senate seats

The Canberra Times understands Special Minister of State Don Farrell will also shelve a proposal to boost the total numbers of lower house MPs, as he prepares to introduce caps to rein in political spending and donations.

Under a wide-ranging suite of electoral reforms, which are expected to be brought into Parliament in August, the threshold to which political donations are made public will be slashed from $16,300 down to $1000.

Caps will also be placed on how much political donors can give, with the final figures still being finalised.

Government sources briefed on the changes claim they were told that extra territory senators would be included in the upcoming reform package.

Labor previously committed to increasing the number of territory senators after a powerful joint committee backed a significant expansion of Parliament to address population changes.

Senator Farrell has been trying to strike a deal with the major parties to double the number of territory senators from two to four, in line with the committee's recommendations.

Increased territory representation would likely result in a slight progressive majority in the upper house.

The proposal has been strongly opposed by the Coalition, which argues increased territory representation in the upper house would diminish the value of state votes.

Currently, the ACT has two senators for 315,000 voters and the Northern Territory has two senators for nearly 150,000 voters.

Unlike their state counterparts, territory senators currently serve three-year terms, the same as members of the House of Representatives.

Independent Senator David Pocock, who has long advocated for an increase to six ACT senators, said additional seats would have given Canberrans fairer representation and "strengthened our democracy".

"The territories have had the same number of senators for more than 50 years and the time for change is now," Senator Pocock said.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he was hopeful Parliament would endorse a modest increase to territory representation in its next term.

Greens spokesperson for democracy Senator Larissa Waters said the party had yet to see any real detail on plans for electoral reforms.

"Unfortunately, they [Labor] seem more focussed on passing legislation with the LNP than on their election commitment to improve our democracy," Senator Waters said.

A spokesperson for Senator Farrell has been contacted for comment.