Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Capital Territory
territorial responsibilities: finance and economy, justice, environment, education,
health, housing and development, transport and employment. In addition, it has
responsibility for municipal functions: waste management, sportsground maintenance,
kerbing and guttering, development applications, and parks and gardens.
Developments in self-government
The first ACT election was held on 4 March 1989. It was conducted under a
modified d’Hondt (party list) electoral system, the whole of the ACT comprising
one 17-member electorate. The election was contested by 117 candidates, representing
22 political parties and independents.
A measure of the somewhat jaundiced view of residents towards self-government
in 1989, and also reflecting the results of the earlier referendums, was that the parties
contesting the election included the Surprise Party, the Sun-Ripened Warm Tomato
Party and the Party! Party! Party! Further, the first House of Assembly included eight
representatives from anti-self-government parties: No Self-Government, the Abolish
Self-Government Coalition and the Residents Rally Party. It took almost two months
to finalise the counting of votes, and the final result was a minority Labor government
led by Rosemary Follett.
While Follett’s government managed to navigate the first tentative steps of
government, a key player in the transition to self-government was William Harris,
the secretary of the Chief Minister’s Department. Harris was the architect of the
ACT’s first budget, a ‘task that involved identifying all federal government spending
on the territory by dozens of departments and agencies, and then overseeing the
design and establishment of a purpose-made public service to operate at both state
and municipal levels’. 6 Over time, the ACT has managed to navigate autonomy well,
consolidating its administrative functions and moving to a more stable electoral
system.
Until the 2016 election, the Assembly had 17 members elected from three
electorates: Molonglo, Ginninderra and Brindabella. In 2013, ACT Electoral Commissioner
Philip Green held a review of the size of the Assembly. This was
motivated by the expanding population, and because the ministerial responsibilities
of minority government members had expanded, reducing the degree to
which ministers could undertake all their duties. The report recommended that:
• the ACT Legislative Assembly be increased to 25 members at the 2016 election,
with five electorates each returning five members;
• the Assembly be increased to 35 members at the 2020 election, with five
electorates each returning seven members. 7
6 Cooke 2016.
7 ACT Reference Group on the Size of the Legislative Assembly 2013.
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