Since self-government was granted in 1988, the AFP has performed this under contract to the ACT government. The ACT was given its first federal representation in 1949, when it gained a seat in the House of Representatives, the Division of Australian Capital Territory, under the 1948 Representation Act which increased the size of the House of Representatives. The ACT member could only vote on matters directly affecting the Territory. In 1974, the ACT and the Northern Territory were each allocated two Senate seats. In 1974, the House of Representatives seat was divided into two, the Division of Canberra and Division of Fraser. A third, the Division of Namadgi, was created in 1996, but was abolished in 1998 after an updated assessment of changes to the regional demographic distribution. Both House of Representatives seats have mostly been held by the Australian Labor Party, while ALP and the Liberal Party of Australia have always each held one Senate seat. In 1930, the ACT Advisory Council was established to advise the Minister for Territories on the community's concerns and from 1934 the territory had its own Supreme Court. In 1974 the Council became a fully elected Legislative Assembly, advising the Minister of the Capital Territory, and in 1979 this renamed the House of Assembly. Although there was a push by residents of the ACT for a greater say in the management of the territory, this did not necessarily equate to a desire for self-governance. John Overall, who served as the head of the NCDC from 1957 to 1972, summarised the distinction in "Canberra: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow":  Nevertheless, there were many residents in Canberra who wanted self-government, and there were a number of forces pushing the territory in that direction. In 1973 the Minister for the Capital Territory, Gordon Bryant, announced that the ACT would have self-government within 12 months. The formation of the Legislative Assembly in 1974 was intended as the significant step towards self-government, but the Whitlam Government, under whose auspices the Assembly was formed, tended to "override or ignore its wishes." Similarly, the subsequent 1975 Fraser Government seemed uninterested in the Assembly. However, in February 1976, Tony Staley accepted the post of Minister for the Capital Territory. Staley had been a supporter of self-government for the ACT, and he proposed a model whereby Canberrans would rapidly gain control of much of the territory's administration. The model found opposition, though, in part because it failed to adequately address the funding arrangements. Although Staley's plan did not eventuate, the next person to run the Ministry, Robert Ellicott, chose to hold a referendum on the issue.