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All 17 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 9 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly occurred on Saturday, 20 October 2012. The 11-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, won a fourth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Zed Seselja. [1] [2] [3]
The Australian Labor Party , commonly known as ACT Labor, is the ACT branch of the Australian Labor Party. It is one of two major parties in the unicameral Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory.
The Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of the party with the largest representation of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usually takes on the role. Unlike other states and territories, the Chief Minister of the ACT is not nominally appointed by an administrator or viceroy, but elected directly by the Assembly. Since there are no local governments in the territory, the Chief Minister's role is not only roughly equivalent to that of the Premiers of the states of Australia, but also that of the mayor of a local council.
Katherine Ruth Gallagher is a former Australian politician, a former member of the Australian Senate, and the former Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory and member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2014, representing the electorate of Molonglo for the Labor Party. She was also Minister for Health, Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Regional Development.
Candidates are elected to fill all 17 Legislative Assembly seats in the unicameral parliament which consists of three multi-member electorates, Brindabella (five seats), Ginninderra (five seats) and Molonglo (seven seats), using a proportional representation single transferable vote method known as the Hare-Clark system.
The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Square, close to the centre of the city of Canberra.
The Brindabella electorate is one of the five electorates for the unicameral 25-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. It elects five members, and is the largest of the electorates in geographic area.
The Ginninderra electorate is one of the five electorates for the unicameral 25-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. It elects five members, and is the smallest of the electorates in geographic area.
The electoral roll is a list of persons who are eligible to vote in a particular electoral district and who are registered to vote, if required in a particular jurisdiction. An electoral roll has a number of functions, especially to streamline voting on election day. Voter registration is also used to combat electoral fraud by enabling authorities to verify an applicant's identity and entitlement to a vote, and to ensure a person doesn't vote multiple times. In jurisdictions where voting is compulsory, the electoral roll is used to indicate who has failed to vote. Most jurisdictions maintain permanent electoral rolls while some jurisdictions compile new electoral rolls before each election. In some jurisdictions, people to be selected for jury or other civil duties are chosen from an electoral roll.
The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher attempted to win re-election for a historic fourth term after 11 years in government in the 17-member unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. Labor led by Jon Stanhope came to power as a minority government at the 2001 election with the support of the Greens and Democrats who held the balance of power. The 2004 election resulted in a historic majority government for Labor, and represented the first time the ACT had elected a majority government. Labor again formed a minority government after the 2008 election resulted in a Green balance of power – Labor 7 seats (37.4%), Liberal 6 seats (31.6%), Greens 4 seats (15.6%). [5] [6] [7] Stanhope resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 12 May 2011, and was replaced by his deputy, Katy Gallagher.
Jonathan Donald Stanhope is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1998 until 2011. He is the only ACT Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the ACT Assembly. From 2012 to 2014 Stanhope was Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories, which consists of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
A minority government, or minority cabinet or minority parliament, is a cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, to enable a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. In bicameral parliaments, the term relates to the situation in chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government.
The 1989 election saw the start of self-governance in the ACT. Elections see all members of the unicameral Assembly face re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly is divided into three electorates: five-member Brindabella (including Tuggeranong and parts of the Woden Valley) and Ginninderra (including Belconnen and suburbs) and seven-member Molonglo (including North Canberra, South Canberra, Gungahlin, Weston Creek, and the remainder of the Woden Valley). Election dates are set in statute with four-year fixed terms.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
The District of Tuggeranong is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks and is the southernmost town centre of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The district comprises nineteen suburbs and occupies 117 square kilometres (45 sq mi) to the east of the Murrumbidgee River.
Nine political parties were registered with the ACT Electoral Office as eligible for the October 2012 election. [8] [9]
Three further organisations—Pirate Party Australia, Australian Democrats and No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics—were not registered as political parties in the ACT, however had stated they intended to nominate candidates to be listed on ballot papers as independents. [10] [11]
Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending one seat.
Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Bullet Train candidates | Motorist candidates | Ungrouped candidates |
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Joy Burch * | Val Jeffery | Amanda Bresnan | Mark Erwood | Burl Doble | Mark Gibbons (-) |
Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending one seat.
Labor Candidates | Liberal Candidates | Greens Candidates | Motorist Candidates | LDP Candidates | MLSJ Candidates | Bullet Train Candidates | Ungrouped Candidates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yvette Berry* | Alistair Coe * | James Higgins | Chic Henry | Mustafa Jawadi | Majlinda Bitani | Chris Bucknell | Darren Churchill (-) |
Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending two seats.
Labor Candidates | Liberal Candidates | Greens Candidates | LDP Candidates | Motorist Candidates | Bullet Train Candidates | Ungrouped Candidates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andrew Barr * | Steve Doszpot * | Alan Kerlin | Ian Gardner | David Cumbers | Tim Bohm | Stuart Biggs (-) |
Australian Capital Territory general election, 20 October 2012 [2] | ||||||
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Enrolled voters | 256,702 | |||||
Votes cast | 229,125 | Turnout | 89.3% | |||
Informal votes | 7,953 | Informal | 3.5% | |||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
Liberal | 86,032 | 38.9 | +7.3 | 8 | +2 | |
Labor | 85,991 | 38.9 | +1.5 | 8 | +1 | |
Greens | 23,773 | 10.7 | −4.9 | 1 | -3 | |
Australian Motorist Party | 9,179 | 4.2 | −0.8 | 0 | 0 | |
Bullet Train for Canberra | 8,864 | 4.0 | +4.0 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent | 4,053 | 1.8 | −8.3 | 0 | 0 | |
Liberal Democratic Party | 2,340 | 1.1 | +0.7 | 0 | 0 | |
Marion Lê Social Justice | 940 | 0.4 | +0.4 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 221,172 | 17 | ||||
Brindabella | Ginninderra | Molonglo | |
---|---|---|---|
Labor Party | 35.7% | 39.9% | 40.4% |
Liberal Party | 46.4% | 33.7% | 37.4% |
ACT Greens | 7.9% | 10.1% | 13.2% |
Motorist Party | 3.9% | 7.3% | 2.1% |
Bullet Train | 3.8% | 3.6% | 4.5% |
Other | 2.3% | 5.4% | 2.4% |
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Owing to the peculiarities of the ACT's Hare-Clark voting system, Greens candidate Meredith Hunter was excluded from the count prior to the election of the ALP's Chris Bourke and Yvette Berry after polling a quota a one point of 0.79 to the ALP's 2.69. However, instead of the excess ALP quote being held by the 2nd place candidate, and the surplus electing the Hunter, (as would traditionally occur in federal Australian Senate style election), it was evenly distributed between the second and third candidates, whom with other preferences individually polled above Hunter at the point of the count where the Green's candidate was excluded. This has been described by psephologist Kevin Bonham as 'getting Ginniderraed' or the 'Ginniderra effect'. This was later seen in the 2014 Tasmanian State Election with ALP candidate Brenton Best losing the fifth seat in the state electorate of Braddon. [15]
After the distribution of preferences neither of the two major parties had won sufficient number of seats to form government in their own right and would need the support of the sole Greens representative Shane Rattenbury. While Labour leader Katy Gallagher wanted to renew the cooperation with the Greens from the previous election period, Liberal leader Zed Seselja argued that in the light of the overall losses of the previous Labour-Green alliance, the strong Liberal gain of 7.3%, and a historic tie in both seats and percentage (38.9 % for each major party), with his party having received 41 more preference votes than Labour, the Liberals as the formally strongest party should lead the new government.
After a week of negotiations with both major parties, Shane Rattenburry came to a formal agreement with the Labor Party in order to form a coalition government, which meant that he would be appointed to the cabinet, and implement nearly 100 policies and reforms mainly regarding the rail network in Canberra, the clean up of Canberra's lakes, the ACT's climate change targets, the Gonski education reforms and the reduction of homelessness. Despite "constructive conversations" with the Liberals Rattenbury justified the decision with the greater closeness between the two parties' policies, which would allow a "stable government", Gallagher's "more substantial agenda" and the Liberals' perceived irrisponsibility towards progressive tax reforms. Another reason discussed by the press was that Seselja did not want to give a minister post to Rattenbury. As a result of Rattenbury's promotion to the cabinet, Gallagher planned to enlarge the cabinet to six ministers. [16]
On 6 November 2012, Gallagher was reelected as Chief Minister with the votes of her Labor-Green coalition. Labor's candidate for the office of Speaker Mary Porter, as expected, was not successful, as Rattenbury had announced at the same time as the government agreement that he would vote for the Liberal Party's candidate, which in the end was Vicki Dunne. Porter was elected Deputy Speaker instead. [17] While both Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Opposition Leader Zed Seselja retained their positions following the outcome of this election, neither lasted in their positions to lead their respective parties at the next election in 2016 as both remarkably resigned from their positions of their own volitions and from the territory Parliament to move to the Federal Parliament as the two Senators representing the ACT.
Newspaper | Endorsement | |
---|---|---|
The Canberra Times | Labor [18] |
The ACT Greens is a green political party located in the Australian Capital Territory, and a member of the federation of the Australian Greens.
Andrew James Barr is an Australian politician and Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory. He has been a Labor Party member for the seat of Molonglo in the ACT Legislative Assembly since 5 April 2006, after being elected on a countback to replace former Treasurer Ted Quinlan, who resigned mid-term. Barr was immediately promoted to Cabinet upon his election. As one of only five Ministers in the Territory government, he held a number of portfolios: Treasurer, Economic Development, Community Services, Tourism, Sport and Recreation, and Tourism and Events. On 11 December 2014 he was elected as Chief Minister after his predecessor, Katy Gallagher, resigned and announced her intention to run for the Senate.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 18 February 1995. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Rosemary Follett, was challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Kate Carnell. For the first time, candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament. However the Liberals, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of Michael Moore and Paul Osborne. Carnell was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the third Assembly on 9 March 1995.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 21 February 1998. The incumbent Liberal Party, led by Kate Carnell, was challenged by the Labor Party, led by Wayne Berry. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament. However the Liberals, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of Michael Moore, Paul Osborne, and Dave Rugendyke. Carnell was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the fourth Assembly on 19 March 1998.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 20 October 2001. The incumbent Liberal Party, led by Gary Humphries, was challenged by the Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament. However Labor, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of the ACT Greens and Democrats. Stanhope was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the fifth Assembly on 12 November 2001. The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission and was the first time in Australia's history that an electronic voting and counting system was used for some, but not all, polling places.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 16 October 2004. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope, was challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Brendan Smyth. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was a clear majority of nine seats in the 17-member unicameral Assembly for Labor. It marked the first and so far only time in the history of ACT self-government that one party was able to win a majority in its own right. Stanhope was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the sixth Assembly on 4 November 2004. The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission and was the second time in Australia's history that an electronic voting and counting system was used for some, but not all, polling places, expanding on the initial trial of the system at the 2001 ACT election.
The Molonglo electorate was one of the three electorates for the unicameral 17-member Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly between 1995 and 2016. It had seven seats, and was the largest of the three electorates in terms of population.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 18 October 2008. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope, was challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Zed Seselja. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament with Labor winning seven seats, the Liberals six seats and the Greens finishing with four seats, giving the Greens the balance of power in the 17-member unicameral Assembly. On 31 October 2008, after almost two weeks of deliberations, the Greens chose to support a Labor minority government. Consequently, Labor was re-elected to a third consecutive term of government in the ACT. Stanhope was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the seventh Assembly on 5 November 2008.
Zdenko Matthew "Zed" Seselja is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory since 2013, representing the Liberal Party. He was previously a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2013, and served as leader of the Canberra Liberals and Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2013.
Mary Edith Porter is a former Labor member of the ACT Assembly. She was first elected to the Assembly in October 2004. Immediately prior to that, she was CEO of Volunteering ACT from 1993 until October 2004
Shane Stephen Rattenbury, Australian politician and former Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, is a member of the multi-member unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Molonglo for the ACT Greens since 2008. He was the first Speaker in any Parliament in the world representing a Green political party.
Amanda Bresnan is an Australian politician and a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. Bresnan was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Brindabella for the ACT Greens at the 2008 election and defeated at the 2012 election
Meredith Hunter, Australian politician, is a former member of the multi-member unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra for the ACT Greens from 2008 to 2012. She was also the Parliamentary Convenor of the ACT Greens.
Caroline Le Couteur is an Australian politician. She was elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Molonglo for the ACT Greens at the 2008 election and defeated at the 2012 election In October 2016, she was re-elected to the assembly representing the new electorate of Murrumbidgee.
A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016.
This is a list of members of the eighth Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, as elected at and subsequent to the October 2012 election.
Meegan Fitzharris is an elected Member for the Yerrabi electorate in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, as of October 2016. Prior to this, she was the Member for the former electorate of Molonglo after she won a countback to fill the Legislative Assembly seat vacated by former Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher. She is also the Minister for Transport and Municipal Services, Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research and Minister for Health.
A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly will be held on Saturday, 17 October 2020.
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