12
January 2017
PDF Version [274KB]
Hannah
Gobbett
Politics and Public
Administration Section
Executive
summary
- This paper provides an overview of the issues and outcome for the
15 October 2016 election for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative
Assembly.
- The two major issues of the election campaign were the enlargement
of the Legislative Assembly (from 17 to 25 Members) and redistribution of all
electorates, and the establishment of a light rail network through northern
Canberra.
- Following the election, neither major party gained the 13 seats required
to form a majority in the Legislative Assembly. The Australian Labor Party (12
MLAs) reached a Parliamentary Agreement with the two Greens MLAs to form
Government. The Canberra Liberal Party formed the Opposition.
- The 2016 ACT election result continues a period of stability in
ACT politics that has occurred since 2008, whereby the ALP forms government
with the Greens through an official Parliamentary Agreement.
- For the first time in Australian federal and state parliamentary
history, a majority of women (13 of the 25 MLAs) were elected to Parliament.
Contents
Executive
summary
Introduction
Background
2015 electoral redistributions
Party changes and controversies
Australian Labor Party
Liberal Party of Australia
Light Rail
Campaign
The results
Summary
Women
General election results by
electorate
The outcome
Forming Government
The ninth Legislative Assembly
Introduction
Since the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) gained self-government
in 1989 the ACT has had a unicameral Parliament (where the sole parliamentary
chamber is the Legislative Assembly) which is elected every four years. The
ninth election for the ACT Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday 15 October
2016.
Twenty-five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were
elected using the Hare-Clark proportional representation system across five
electorates following an electoral redistribution. The Legislative Assembly
expanded from 17 MLAs in three electorates (Ginninderra and Brindabella, five
MLAs; Molonglo, seven MLAs) to 25 MLAs drawn equally from five electorates
(Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi).[1]
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), in power since the 2001
election, was re-elected at the 2016 general election. Following the signing of
a Parliamentary Agreement with the ACT Greens (AG) Labor formed government
under Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA (electorate of Molonglo, 2006–16;
Kurrajong, 2016–). The official Opposition is the Liberal Party of Australia
(LIB), under leader Alistair Coe MLA (Ginninderra, 2008–16; Yerrabi, 2016–).
Background
2015
electoral redistributions
The Electoral Act 1992 (ACT) requires the ACT
Electoral Commission to conduct a redistribution of electoral boundaries prior
to each ACT Legislative Assembly general election.[2]
The redistribution must begin ‘as soon as practicable’ after the 3rd Saturday
in October, two years after the previous election.[3]
In March 2013 the Australian Capital Territory
(Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cth) was amended by the Federal Parliament in
response to previous reviews of ACT governance. As a result of amendments to
subsections 8(2) and (3) of that Act, the Legislative Assembly was given:
... the power to determine the size of the Assembly without
requiring the Commonwealth to pass regulations to make any changes to the size
of the Assembly.
The Bill provides that any enactment made by the Assembly for
the purpose of determining the size of the Assembly will additionally require
the approval of a two-thirds majority of the total number of members of the
Assembly to come into effect.[4]
On 13 December 2012 the then Chief Minister Katy Gallagher MLA
(Molonglo, 2001–2014) commissioned an Expert Reference Group (ERG) (chaired by
Phillip Green, the ACT Electoral Commissioner) to conduct a community,
legislative and historical review into the size of the Legislative Assembly.[5]
The ERG report, published in April 2013, noted the following factors that
supported an increase in the number of members in the Legislative Assembly:
- the Legislative Assembly had not changed in size (17 MLAs) since
the ACT was granted self-government in 1989
- the population of the ACT had increased from approximately
275,000 in 1989 to 375,000 in 2012
-
the Australian Capital Territory (Self Government) Act 1988 (Cth)
had been amended in March 2013 to give the Assembly the ability to set its size
should a motion be passed by at least two-thirds of its members
- 11 inquiries had investigated this issue between 1974 and 2012:
nine of these had recommended that the Legislative Assembly be larger, and two
recommended the Legislative Assembly remain at 17 MLAs.
-
the small size of the Assembly and ministry posed ‘significant
risk to good government in the ACT’, especially as all other Australian
parliaments have at least 25 members
-
in comparison to the size of the Northern Territory and Tasmanian
ministries (at nine and eight Ministers, respectively), the current five-member
Ministry is too small.[6]
On 5 June 2014 the Australian Capital Territory
(Legislative Assembly) Bill 2014 (ACT) was introduced into the Legislative
Assembly. The Bill proposed that the Legislative Assembly—at the next election
and after the commencement of the Act—would consist of 25 Members.[7]
It was passed by the Legislative Assembly unanimously in August 2014.
The Electoral Amendment Bill 2014 (ACT) was introduced on
5 June 2014. The Bill amended section 34 of the Electoral Act 1992 (ACT),
and provided that the ACT must be divided into five electorates and that five
members of the Legislative Assembly must be elected from each electorate.[8]
The five electorates are:
- Brindabella, derived from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘two
kangaroo rats’, also the name associated with the mountain range to the south
of Canberra city
- Ginninderra, derived from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘sparkling
like the stars’, also the name of the creek that flows through Belconnen which
was dammed to form Lake Ginninderra
- Kurrajong, derived from the Aboriginal word for the Kurrajong
tree (Brachychiton populneus); Kurrajong Hill was the name given to the
Capital Hill (the current site of the Australian Parliament House) by the early
settlers
- Murrumbidgee, derived from the Aboriginal word for ‘big water’;
also the name of the river that flows through the southern Canberra electorate
- Yerrabi, derived from the Aboriginal word for ‘go’, ‘walk’ and
‘to leave’; Yerrabi Pond is also one of the major water features of the Gungahlin
area.[9]
The Bill passed the Legislative Assembly on 5 August 2014
with opposition from Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury (Kurrajong).[10]
Party changes
and controversies
Both major parties had key leadership changes between the
2012 and 2016 elections. Leaders of both parties resigned and were replaced, so
the 2016 general election was the first election for Labor Chief Minister
Andrew Barr and Liberal Opposition leader Jeremy Hanson MLA (Molonglo 2008–16;
Murrumbidgee 2016–).[11]
Australian
Labor Party
Following the announcement of ACT Senator Kate Lundy’s
resignation from the Federal Parliament, then ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher
(from 16 May 2011) resigned from the Legislative Assembly on 23 December 2014
to nominate for the vacant Senate position.[12]
Gallagher was the sole nomination to fill the March 2015 Senate casual vacancy.[13]
Following a recount of votes received by Gallagher at the 2012 ACT election,
Andrew Barr’s former Chief of Staff Meegan Fitzharris (ALP) was declared
Gallagher’s replacement in the ACT Legislative Assembly.[14]
In a multi-member electorate system such as the Hare-Clark
system in use in the ACT, a casual vacancy is filled by appointing a
replacement member to Parliament or recounting the votes received by the
vacating MLA at the previous election, not a by-election. In the ACT, a
‘recount’ or ‘count-back’ is the method regularly used to replace departing
MLAs.[15]
Votes received by the departing MLA at the previous election are distributed
amongst those candidates who have indicated that they seek to contest the
vacancy according to the preferences on the original ballot papers. Elections
ACT states:
For example, a ballot paper that was marked "1-Blue,
2-Vacating MLA" would be counted to "Blue" (if "Blue"
is contesting the vacancy). Similarly, a ballot paper that was marked
"1-Vacating MLA, 2-Black, 3-Blue" would be counted to
"Blue" (if "Blue" is contesting the vacancy but
"Black" is not).[16]
Andrew Barr was selected as the Chief Minister for the ACT
on 11 December 2014, becoming the first openly gay state or territory leader in
Australia.[17]
In December 2015 Fairfax Media outlets reported that Maria
Hawthorne, the Chief of Staff of Minister for Police and Emergency Services Joy
Burch MLA (Brindabella 2008–), had briefed Construction, Forestry, Mining and
Engineering Union (CFMEU) ACT Secretary Dean Hall on a private meeting between
Ms Burch and ACT Chief Police Officer Rudi Lammers.[18]
Ms Burch resigned from the Police and Emergency Services Portfolio the
following day, but retained her other ministerial responsibilities as Minister
for Education and Training, Disability, Arts, and Racing and Gaming until a
ministerial reshuffle in January 2016.[19]
Mary Porter AM (Ginninderra, 2004–2016) resigned from the
Legislative Assembly on 19 February 2016 due to illness.[20]
Following a recount of votes received by Porter at the 2012 election, Jayson
Hinder (ALP) was declared Porter’s replacement.[21]
Liberal
Party of Australia
Zed Seselja (Molonglo, 2004–13) resigned from the position
of Opposition Leader and Leader of the ACT Liberal Party in February 2012 after
receiving Liberal Party preselection to contest the Senate at the 2013 federal general
election.[22]
Jeremy Hanson was selected as the Opposition Leader and Leader of the ACT
Liberal Party on 11 February 2013.[23]
On 11 June 2013 Seselja resigned from the Legislative
Assembly. Following a recount of the 2012 election votes for the electorate of
Molonglo, Nicole Lawder (LIB) replaced Seselja in the Legislative Assembly.[24]
On 15 July 2016 Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the
appointment of Liberal Party MLA Brendan Smyth (Brindabella, 1998–2016) to the
position of Commissioner for International Engagement. Mr Smyth formally
resigned from the Legislative Assembly on the same day.[25]
This change occurred much to the surprise of the Liberal party leadership, who
had not known of the resignation until its public announcement.[26]
Mr Smyth’s resignation caused a ‘count-back’ of the 2012
election ballot papers with the 2016 election less than three months away. As a
count-back had previously occurred in the Brindabella electorate following the
resignation of Zed Seselja in 2013, one Liberal candidate remained on the
ticket: 81 year old Val Jeffrey, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly on
29 July 2016.[27]
At 81 years of age, Jeffery was the oldest person to sit in the ACT Parliament
and oldest person to sit in any state or federal parliament in Australia.[28]
He attended Parliament for the 11 weeks prior to the election, mainly Question
Time and party meetings and was paired for parliamentary votes ‘to allow
flexibility.’[29]
Mr Jeffrey did not re-contest the election and retired from politics at the
2016 election.
Light Rail
As a result of the 2012 Parliamentary Agreement between the
Greens and ALP, the ALP had committed to constructing a light rail network as
part of their program of reforms for the ACT.[30]
The ‘Capital Metro’ light rail project was publicly opposed by a number of
community and business groups as the planned route of Stage 1 of the project runs
through the city to the northern suburbs only, not reaching other areas of
Canberra.[31]
Polling conducted on the issue suggested varying levels of
support for the light rail project:
- a June 2014 ACT Government-commissioned survey stated that 55 per
cent of respondents supported the project, 34 per cent were opposed and 11 per
cent were undecided[32]
- a June 2015 Unions ACT survey stated that 39 per cent of
respondents supported the light rail, 46 per cent of respondents opposed and 15
per cent were undecided[33]
- an October 2015 Canberra Times survey stated that support
for the light rail line was recorded at 49 per cent of respondents, with 47 per
cent opposing the project and four per cent undecided[34]
-
an October 2015 ACT Government survey conducted by Piazza
Research stated that 56 per cent of respondents supported the light rail
project, with 34 per cent opposed.[35]
As the polls demonstrate, support for light rail fluctuated
across time and regions. Media pundits predicted that, as the Stage 1 route travelled
through northern Canberra, strong public opposition in other areas could result
in a Liberal win at the 2016 election.[36]
Two independent candidates for the southern electorate of
Brindabella announced their opposition to the light rail project early in the
election campaign. Andrew Holt (IND) and Joel McKay (IND) both stated that
their opposition to the project was a result of the route not benefitting
southern Canberra suburbs.[37]
Stage 2, an extension of the light rail route through the
inner south of Canberra via the Parliamentary Triangle, was announced by the
Government during the election period (September 2016). Costings are not yet
publicly available.[38]
Capital Metro was vehemently opposed by the Canberra Liberals,
who argued that the project was cost prohibitive and could run over schedule.[39]
Prior to the 2016 election the Opposition stated that, should they be elected, the
light rail contract would be cancelled and construction ceased by a Canberra
Liberals Government.[40]
The Liberals stated that they would improve the ACT’s bus network upon winning
the 2016 election.[41]
Campaign
The campaign was dominated by the debates surrounding the
costs and benefits of the light rail network. Other key themes included health,
tax rates, education and government transparency.[42]
Public polling on the state of the parties and preferred
leader was not conducted nor published by the media in the lead up to the
election.
Only two MLAs announced their retirements at the 2016
election: Simon Corbell (ALP, Molonglo, 1997–2016) and, as noted above, Val
Jeffrey (LIB). Corbell held a number of portfolios during his parliamentary
career, retiring as the Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for
the Environment and Climate Change and Minister for Health, Police and
Emergency Services.[43]
The ACT Electoral Commission noted that the number of
candidates was 141, an increase from 74 in 2012. Election analyst Antony Green stated:
A record 141 candidates will contest the 2016 ACT election,
beating the previous records of 117 candidates at the first ACT election in
1989 under the Modified D'Hondt electoral system. The most candidates to
contest a Hare-Clark election was 108 in 1998.[44]
In addition to the Australian Greens, the Australian Labor
Party and the Liberal Party, seven minor parties contested the election as well
as a number of independents.[45]
The ACT Electoral Commission recorded 51 female candidates and 90 male candidates.[46]
The ALP and Liberal parties each had 14 male and 11 female candidates.[47]
The results
The election resulted in a win for Labor, with the ALP winning
12 seats, the Liberals 11 seats and the Greens two seats.[48]
Summary
- there were swings in the primary vote against all parliamentary
parties:
- 0.5
per cent against the ALP
- 2.2
per cent against the Liberal Party and
- 0.5
per cent against the Greens.[49]
-
all minor parties recorded an increase in their primary vote, but
this did not translate into gaining any seats in the Legislative Assembly. The
Australian Sex Party received the largest increase (3.1 per cent), followed by
Sustainable Australia (ACT) (1.6 per cent), Animal Justice Party (1.5 per cent),
Like Canberra (1.1 per cent), Liberal Democrats (1 per cent), Canberra
Community Voters (0.7 per cent) and the Community Alliance Party (0.2 per cent).[50]
- 12 of the 25 members of the expanded Assembly are new members.
This includes seven new female members and five new male members.
-
the ACT Electoral Commission continued to use a dual paper ballot
and electronic voting system (in some polling booths), as has occurred since
2001. Electronic voting was featured in the five main town centres; voters were
given the choice to use paper ballots in these booths. Traditional paper
ballots were used in other polling booths.[51]
Women
Of the 25 MLAs elected to the newly-expanded Legislative
Assembly, 13 women were elected. This marks the first time in Australian
Capital Territory — and Australian — history that women are in the majority in a
Parliament.[52]
Women were elected from all three parliamentary parties:
- of
the Labor Party’s 12 MLAs, seven are women
- of
the Liberal Party’s 11 MLAs, five are women
- of
the two Greens MLAs, one is a woman.
General election
results by electorate
Due to the Hare-Clark electoral system, votes are based on
candidate and order elected. The table below notes in which order each
candidate was elected. An asterisk (*) denotes whether the individual was
elected for the first time in 2016.
One incumbent MLA, Chris Bourke (ALP, Ginninderra), was
defeated. Fellow Labor candidate Gordon Ramsay won the fifth seat in the
electorate. Mr Bourke was the first Indigenous ACT MLA.
Caroline Le Couteur (AG, Murrumbidgee) returns to the
Legislative Assembly having served in the Assembly from 2008 until her defeat
at the 2012 election.[53]
Table 1: Election results
Electorate |
Member |
Party |
Order elected |
Gender |
Brindabella |
Andrew Wall |
LIB |
1 |
Male |
Mick Gentleman |
ALP |
2 |
Male |
Joy Burch |
ALP |
3 |
Female |
Mark Parton |
LIB |
4* |
Male |
Nicole Lawder |
LIB |
5 |
Female |
Ginninderra |
Yvette Berry |
ALP |
1 |
Female |
Vicki Dunne |
LIB |
2 |
Female |
Elizabeth Kikkert |
LIB |
3* |
Female |
Tara Cheyne |
ALP |
4* |
Female |
Gordon Ramsay |
ALP |
5* |
Male |
Kurrajong |
Andrew Barr |
ALP |
1 |
Male |
Shane Rattenbury |
AG |
2 |
Male |
Elizabeth Lee |
LIB |
3* |
Female |
Steve Doszpot |
LIB |
4 |
Male |
Rachel Stephen-Smith |
ALP |
5* |
Female |
Murrumbidgee |
Jeremy Hanson |
LIB |
1 |
Male |
Bec Cody |
ALP |
2* |
Female |
Chris Steel |
ALP |
3* |
Male |
Giulia Jones |
LIB |
4 |
Female |
Caroline Le Couteur |
AG |
5* |
Female |
Yerrabi |
Meegan Fitzharris |
ALP |
1 |
Female |
Alistair Coe |
LIB |
2 |
Male |
Michael Pettersson |
ALP |
3* |
Male |
Suzanne Orr |
ALP |
4* |
Female |
James Milligan |
LIB |
5* |
Male |
Sources: Elections ACT, ‘List
of elected candidates - 2016 Election’, ACT Electoral Commission, 9
November 2016, and A Green, ‘2016
ACT election - elected members by interim preference distribution’, A
Green’s Election Blog, 18 October 2016.
The outcome
Forming
Government
As the ALP did not gain the 13 seats required to govern in its
own right, the ALP and Greens signed a Parliamentary Agreement to form
government, as they have done since 2008.[54]
The Agreement between ALP Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Greens Shane
Rattenbury and Caroline Le Couteur was signed on 30 October 2016.[55]
The agreement stated that the ACT Greens will:
- Support Mr Andrew Barr as Chief Minister of the ACT
- Guarantee support for the passage of Appropriation
Bills for the ordinary annual services of Government
- Not move any motions of no confidence, or support any
other party’s no-confidence motions, except in instances of proven
corruption, gross negligence, or significant non-adherence to this agreement or
the Ministerial Code of Conduct.[56]
Further information on policy and project specific
information held within the Agreement is available in the full text of the Parliamentary
Agreement.[57]
On 25 October 2016 the Canberra Liberals met to vote on
the party leadership. Alistair Coe was elected as leader of the Canberra
Liberal Party, replacing former leader Jeremy Hanson. Nicole Lawder (Brindabella,
2013–) was elected to the position of Deputy Leader of the Opposition.[58]
The ninth
Legislative Assembly
On 31 October 2016 all 25 MLAs of the Legislative Assembly
were sworn in.[59]
Following the swearing-in ceremony the Assembly elected Joy Burch (ALP) and
Vicki Dunne (LIB, Ginninderra 2001) as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.[60]
The composition of the Legislative Assembly is summarised in
Table 2, below.
Table 2: Legislative Assembly composition
Party |
MLAs |
Women |
Australian Greens |
2 |
1 |
Australian Labor Party |
12 |
7 |
Total Government |
14 |
|
Liberal Party of Australia |
11 |
5 |
Total |
25 |
13 |
Andrew Barr was re-elected leader of the ALP by his fellow
ALP MLAs and subsequently Chief Minister, and Yvette Berry (ALP, Ginninderra,
2012–) was named Deputy Chief Minister.[61]
The Government announced a new seven-person ministry on the first sitting day
of the ninth Legislative Assembly.[62]
The 32 portfolio ministry comprises five returning MLAs and two new MLAs (Gordon
Ramsay (Ginninderra) and Rachel Stephen-Smith (Kurrajong)) and includes four
men and three women. The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury retained a position in the
ministry, with four portfolios: Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability,
Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Corrections and
Minister for Mental Health.[63]
On 2 November 2016 the Leader of the Opposition, Alistair
Coe, announced the Liberals’ shadow ministry. All 11 Liberal Party MLAs gained
multiple shadow portfolios in the ministry.[64]
The shadow ministry includes six men and five women.
[1]. ACT Electoral
Commission, ACT
Legislative Assembly electoral boundaries redistribution 2015: redistribution
report, Publishing Services for the ACT Electoral Commission, Canberra,
2015, p. 2.
[2]. Electoral Act 1992 (ACT).
[3]. Electoral
Act 1992 (ACT), section 37(1)(a).
[4]. R Lundie and
C Madden, Australian
Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment Bill 2013, Bills digest, 86,
2012–13, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 12 March 2013, p. 2.
[5]. P Green
(Chair), Review
into the size of the ACT Legislative Assembly, report, Expert Reference
Group on the Size of the ACT Legislative Assembly, ACT Government, Canberra,
28 March 2013, p. iii.
[6]. Ibid., p. 1.
[7]. Elections
ACT, ‘ACT
Legislative Assembly votes to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 Members
from the 2016 election’, ACT Electoral Commission, 6 August 2014; Australian
Capital Territory (Legislative Assembly) Act 2014 (ACT).
[8]. Electoral
Amendment Act 2014
(ACT).
[9]. Elections
ACT, 'Electorates
2016 election', ACT Electoral Commission, 27 April 2016.
[10]. ‘Electoral
Amendment Bill 2014’, ACT Legislative Assembly, Debates, 5 August
2014, p. 670.
[11]. A Green, ‘2016
ACT election preview’, ABC News, n.d.
[12]. Lundy
resigned from the Senate on 24 March 2015.
[13]. T McIlroy, ‘Gallagher
sets a date for her quiet departure’, The Canberra Times, 19
December 2014, p. 4.
[14]. Elections
ACT, 'Casual
vacancies in the eighth Legislative Assembly (2012-2016)', ACT Electoral
Commission, 29 July 2016; M Gorrey, ‘Fitzharris
looking forward to representing Gungahlin’, The Canberra Times, 16
January 2015, p. 2.
[15]. Elections
ACT, ‘Casual
vacancies’, fact sheet, ACT Electoral Commission, 22 September 2016.
[16]. Ibid.
[17]. ‘Barr
is poised to make history’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 December
2014, p. 9.
[18]. Ms Hawthorn
resigned from her position on 15 December 2015 and was cleared by ACT Policing
of any criminal conduct. K Lawson and T McIlroy, ‘Police
Minister Joy Burch's chief of staff resigns over approach to police’, The
Canberra Times, (online edition), 15 December 2015.
[19]. K Lawson and
T McIlroy, ‘Police
finish investigation into Joy Burch, Maria Hawthorne and CFMEU’, The
Canberra Times, (online edition), 23 March 2016; ACT Legislative
Assembly, ‘Joy
Burch’, 24 March 2016.
[20]. ‘Mary
Porter resigns ACT Legislative Assembly “sooner than intended” for medical
reasons’, ABC News, 22 January 2016.
[21]. Elections
ACT, ‘Casual
vacancies in the eighth Legislative Assembly (2012–2016)’, ACT Electoral
Commission, 29 July 2016.
[22]. ACT
Legislative Assembly, ‘Members
of previous Assemblies (1989–2016)’, 17 October 2016; L Cox, ‘Seselja
set for big campaign and even bigger clan’, The Canberra Times, 4
June 2013, p. 1.
[23]. ACT
Legislative Assembly, ‘Leaders
of the Opposition for the ACT’, 22 November 2016.
[24]. Elections
ACT, ‘Casual
vacancies in the eighth Legislative Assembly (2012–2016)’, op. cit.
[25]. Elections
ACT, ‘Mr
Brendan Smyth MLA resigns - ACT Legislative Assembly casual vacancy announced’,
ACT Electoral Commission, 15 July 2016.
[26]. K Lawson, ‘Brendan
Smyth taken out of political race in government appointment’, The Sydney
Morning Herald, (online edition), 15 July 2016.
[27]. Lawson,
ibid.; Elections ACT, ‘Casual
vacancy count-back result: Val Jeffery to be elected to the ACT Legislative
Assembly’, ACT Electoral Commission, 28 July 2016.
[28]. K Lawson, ‘Out
of the blue ... Jeffrey set to make the trek from Tharwa’, The Canberra
Times, 28 July 2016, p. 4.
[29]. K Lawson, ‘Short
and sweet': Val Jeffrey's $30,000 political career’, The Canberra Times,
(online edition), 22 August 2016.
[30]. Australian
Labor Party (ACT Branch) and ACT Greens, Parliamentary
Agreement for the 8th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory,
2 November 2012, p. 1.
[31]. B Westcott, ‘Route
2016: Canberra’s light rail journey’, The Canberra Times website.
[32]. ‘Light
rail supported by majority of Canberrans, survey finds’, ABC News, 2
August 2014.
[33]. ‘More
Canberrans oppose light rail than support it, Unions ACT survey shows’, 666
ABC Canberra, ABC, 19 June 2015.
[34]. T McIlroy, ‘Canberra
Times light rail survey results: public opinion polarised on tram line’,
The Canberra Times, (online edition), 18 October 2015.
[35]. T McIlroy and
H Belot, ‘Light
rail support steady in Canberra: Simon Corbell’, The Canberra Times, (online
edition), 18 October 2015.
[36]. B Raue, ‘ACT
election: Labor, light rail and the Liberal surge that never eventuated’, The
Guardian, (online edition), 16 October 2016; ‘ACT
election a light rail showdown’, SkyNews, 14 October 2016.
[37]. K Lawson, ‘Tuggeranong
independent announces candidacy for ACT election’, The Canberra Times,
(online edition), 1 March 2016; A Holt, ‘Light rail: its [sic] a complete
waste of our money’, Andrew Holt website.
[38]. C Knaus, ‘Labor
announces light rail to go to Woden’, The Canberra Times, (online
edition), 2 September 2016.
[39]. A Coe, ‘Canberra
Liberals again oppose spending on light rail’, Canberra Liberals website,
11 August 2015.
[40]. E Gilbert, ‘Canberra
light rail: ACT Opposition formally warn consortia project would be cancelled
under Liberal Government’, ABC News, 10 June 2015.
[41]. Westcott, op.
cit.
[42]. C Knaus, ‘ACT
election 2016: your guide to voting’, The Canberra Times, (online
edition), 7 October 2016.
[43]. A Green, ‘ACT
election 2016: retiring MLAs’, ABC News.
[44]. A Green, ‘Summary
of Candidates and Parties Contesting 2016 ACT Election’, Antony Green’s
Election Blog, ABC Elections, 22 September 2016.
[45]. Elections
ACT, ‘141
candidates stand for election to the ACT Legislative Assembly’, ACT
Electoral Commission, 22 September 2016.
[46]. Ibid.
[47]. A Green, 22
September 2016, op. cit.
[48]. Elections
ACT, ‘Summary
of seats won - 2016 election’, ACT Electoral Commission, 9 November
2016.
[49]. Elections
ACT, ‘2016 ACT Legislative
Assembly election’, ACT Electoral Commission, 9 November 2016.
[50]. Ibid.
[51]. Elections
ACT, ‘Electronic
voting and counting’, ACT Electoral Commission, 27 September 2016.
[52]. I Cutmore, ‘ACT
election: women to make up majority of Legislative Assembly’, ABC News, 24
October 2016.
[53]. ‘Caroline
Le Couteur’, ACT Legislative Assembly, 16 November 2016.
[54]. J McCann, Balancing
act: the Australian Greens 2008–2011, Research paper, 7, 2011–12,
Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 8 February 2012.
[55]. M Azize, Greens sign
historic parliamentary agreement, media release, 30 October 2016.
[56]. Australian
Labor Party (ACT Branch) and ACT Greens, Parliamentary
Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory,
October 2016.
[57]. Australian
Labor Party (ACT Branch) and ACT Greens, Parliamentary
Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory,
October 2016.
[58]. A Coe (Leader
of the Opposition), ‘Statement
from the Canberra Liberals’, Canberra Liberals website, 25 October
2016.
[59]. ‘Swearing
in of members’, ACT Legislative Assembly, Debates, (proof), 31
October 2016, pp. 2–3.
[60]. ‘Election
of Speaker’, ACT Legislative Assembly, Debates, (proof), 31 October
2016, p. 3.
[61]. ‘Election
of Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition’, ACT Legislative Assembly, Debates,
(proof), 31 October 2016, pp. 4–10; and ACT Legislative Assembly, ‘Current members’.
[62]. ACT
Legislative Assembly, ‘Current members’.
[63]. Ibid.
[64]. A Coe (Leader
of the Opposition), ‘Opposition
announces new shadow portfolios’, Canberra Liberals website, 2
November 2016.
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