2016 Australian Capital Territory general election

15 October 2016

All 25 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout88.5 (Decrease 0.9 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Andrew Barr Jeremy Hanson Shane Rattenbury
Party Labor Liberal Greens
Leader since 11 December 2014 11 February 2013 20 October 2012
Leader's seat Kurrajong Murrumbidgee Kurrajong
Last election 8 seats, 38.9% 8 seats, 38.9% 1 seat, 10.7%
Seats won 12 11 2
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 3 Increase 1
Popular vote 93,811 89,632 25,096
Percentage 38.4% 36.7% 10.3%
Swing Decrease 0.5 Decrease 2.2 Decrease 0.5
TPP estimate[lower-alpha 1] 54.1% 45.9%

Winning party seats by division for the Legislative Assembly.

Chief Minister before election

Andrew Barr
Labor

Elected Chief Minister

Andrew Barr
Labor

A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016.[2]

The 15-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, won a fifth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Jeremy Hanson. On election night, ABC analyst Antony Green predicted that Labor would once again form a minority government with the support of the Greens, with Liberal leader Hanson saying in a speech it would be very difficult for the Liberals to win government.[3] On 22 October, the final list of elected candidates was confirmed; the Labor Party winning 12 seats, the Liberal Party 11 seats and the Greens 2 seats.[4] Labor and the Greens subsequently signed off on a formal Parliamentary Agreement, which outlined shared policy priorities and allowed Greens leader Shane Rattenbury to retain a seat in the Cabinet whilst mandating that the Greens not move or support any motion of no confidence in the Labor Government, except in instances of gross misconduct or corruption.[5][6]

Prior to this election, candidates were elected to fill all 17 Legislative Assembly seats in the unicameral parliament which consisted 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. On 5 August 2014, the Assembly voted to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members, elected from five electorates of five seats each. The Hare-Clark system continued.[7] The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission.

Of the 25 elected members, 13 were women, representing the first female parliamentary majority in Australian history.[8]

Results

Australian Capital Territory general election, 15 October 2016[9][10]
Legislative Assembly
<< 20122020 >>

Enrolled voters 283,162
Votes cast 250,460 Turnout 88.5% −0.9
Informal votes 6,332 Informal 2.5% −1.0
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 93,811 38.4 −0.5 12 +4
  Liberal 89,632 36.7 −2.2 11 +3
  Greens 25,096 10.3 −0.5 2 +1
  Independent 10,835 4.4 +2.6 0 0
  Sex Party 7,474 3.1 +3.1 0 0
  Liberal Democrats 5,028 2.1 +1.0 0 0
  Sustainable Australia 3,831 1.6 +1.6 0 0
  Animal Justice 3,681 1.5 +1.5 0 0
  Like Canberra 2,624 1.1 +1.1 0 0
  Canberra Community Voters 1,703 0.7 +0.7 0 0
  Community Alliance 413 0.2 +0.2 0 0
Total 244,128     25  

Primary vote by electorate

Results by electorate
Brindabella Ginninderra Kurrajong Murrumbidgee Yerrabi
Party Votes  % Seats Votes  % Seats Votes  % Seats Votes  % Seats Votes  % Seats
Labor 15,744 33.6 2 19,494 41.4 3 18,796 38.5 2 17,265 34.5 2 22,512 43.9 3
Liberal 19,606 41.9 3 15,095 32.0 2 15,140 31.0 2 21,425 42.8 2 18,366 35.8 2
Greens 2,399 5.1 0 4,573 9.7 0 9,165 18.8 1 5,325 10.6 1 3,634 7.1 0
Independent 1,967 4.2 0 4,580 9.7 0 2,135 4.4 0 687 1.4 0 1,466 2.9 0
Sex Party 3,694 7.9 0 1,746 3.5 0 2,034 4.0 0
Liberal Democrats 1,175 2.5 0 587 1.2 0 1,057 2.2 0 813 1.6 0 1,396 2.7 0
Sustainable Australia 697 1.5 0 1,105 2.3 0 645 1.3 0 652 1.3 0 732 1.4 0
Animal Justice 1,106 2.4 0 444 0.9 0 602 1.2 0 1,071 2.1 0 458 0.9 0
Like Canberra 442 0.9 0 450 1.0 0 419 0.9 0 658 1.3 0 655 1.3 0
Community Voters 814 1.7 0 889 1.8 0
Community Alliance 413 0.8 0

Final distribution of seats

Electorate Seats held
Brindabella          
Ginninderra          
Kurrajong          
Murrumbidgee          
Yerrabi          
  Labor
  Liberal
  Green

Key dates

  • Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2016
  • Party registration closed: 8 September 2016
  • Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 9 September 2016
  • Rolls close: 16 September 2016
  • Nominations close: 21 September 2016
  • Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 22 September 2016
  • Pre-poll voting commences: 27 September 2016
  • Polling day: 15 October 2016
  • Last day for receipt of postal votes: 21 October 2016[11]

Background

Electorates from the 2016 election.

The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr attempted to win re-election for a fifth term in the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. Labor, led by Katy Gallagher, formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the 2012 election, where Labor won 8 seats, Liberal 8 seats, Greens 1 seat. The Greens retained their balance of power in the election despite losing the majority of their 4-seat representation, with sole remaining representative Shane Rattenbury entering the cabinet to form a coalition government. Gallagher resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 5 December 2014 to enter the Senate in the vacancy left by Kate Lundy. She was replaced by her deputy Andrew Barr on 11 December 2014.

The opposition, the Liberal Party, also had a change in leadership. Zed Seselja, the leader of the party since 2007, stood down on 11 February 2013, to challenge Liberal Party pre-selection for the Senate at the 2013 federal election. Seselja eventually won his pre-selection bid, and was elected Senator for the Australian Capital Territory at the federal election. He was replaced as leader of the Liberal Party by Jeremy Hanson.

All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly was previously 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). These electorates, were redistributed following the increase in the size of the Assembly to 25 seats.

At the end of May 2015, the following electorates were announced:

Election dates are set in statute with four-year fixed terms, to be held on the third Saturday of October every four years.

Campaign

The opposition Liberal Party opposed the Light rail in Canberra project, so did the Like Canberra and Sustainable Australia. In April 2015, the Liberal party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election.[12] A year out from the poll, the light rail project was already predicted to be the election's major issue.[13] As predicted, the light rail project was the major issue of the campaign.[14][15] The election saw the Labor government returned, with the party claiming the result as an endorsement of the project.

Candidates

Registered parties

Twelve parties were registered with the ACT Electoral Commission as eligible for the October 2016 election, ten of which nominated candidates for the election.[16]

Retiring members

Labor

Liberal

Brindabella

Five seats were up for election.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates Animal Justice candidates Liberal Democrats candidates
 

Joy Burch*
Angie Drake
Mick Gentleman*
Karl Maftoum
Taimus Werner-Gibbings

Ed Cocks
Annette Fazey-Southwell
Nicole Lawder*
Mark Parton*
Andrew Wall*

Johnathan Davis
Michael Mazengarb
Ben Murphy

Sarah O'Brien
Robyn Soxsmith

Matt Donnelly
Jacob Gowor
Greg Renet
Vera Saragih
Matt Straschko

Like Canberra candidates Sex Party candidates Sustainable candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Timothy Friel
Richard Tuffin

Steven Bailey
Monique Shepherd

Claude Hastir
Melissa Kemp

Andrew Holt (Ind)
Joel McKay (Ind)

Ginninderra

Five seats were up for election.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates CCV candidates Liberal Democrats candidates
 

Yvette Berry*
Chris Bourke
Tara Cheyne*
Kim Fischer
Gordon Ramsay*

Vicki Dunne*
Denise Fisher
Elizabeth Kikkert*
Ignatius Rozario
Paul Sweeney

Jason Chappel
Indra Esguerra
Richard Merzian

Beth Gooch
Mick Kaye
Geoff Kettle
Gilbert Reilly
Alan Tutt

Naomi Gowor
Guy Jakeman

Like Canberra candidates Sustainable candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Richard Harriss
Sam Huggins

Geoff Buckmaster
Martin Tye

Bernie Brennan (AJP)
Ian Coombes (Ind)
Vijay Dubey (Ind)
David Edwards (Ind)
Emmanuel Ezekiel-Hart (Ind)
Kim Huynh (Ind)
Vanessa Jones (Ind)
Leigh Watson (Ind)
Lea Zangl (Ind)

Kurrajong

Five seats were up for election.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates CCV candidates Liberal Democrats candidates
 

Andrew Barr*
Josh Ceramidas
Leah Dwyer
Richard Niven
Rachel Stephen-Smith*

Candice Burch
Brooke Curtin
Steve Doszpot*
Elizabeth Lee*
Peter McKay

Shane Rattenbury*
Jill Thomsen
Rebecca Vassarotti

Richard Farmer
Mike Hettinger
Lucinda Spier

Mark Ellis
Michael O'Rourke
Hugh Upton

Like Canberra candidates Sustainable candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Chris Bucknell
Maryann Mussared

John Haydon
Oliver Tye

Jeff Isaacs (AJP)
Marea Fatseas (Ind)
Peter Robinson (Ind)
Graeme Strachan (Ind)

Murrumbidgee

Five seats were up for election.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates Animal Justice candidates Community Alliance candidates
 

Bec Cody*
Mark Kulasingham
Brendan Long
Jennifer Newman
Chris Steel*

Jessica Adelan-Langford
Jeremy Hanson*
Peter Hosking
Paul House
Giulia Jones*

Emma Davidson
Jennifer Faerber
Caroline Le Couteur*

Deborah Field
Jessica Montagne

Michael Lindfield
Nancy-Louise Scherger

Liberal Democrats candidates Like Canberra candidates Sustainable candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Fergus Brown
Brendan Cumpston
Roman Gowor
Tom Hamer
Alexander Klinkon

Shelley Dickerson
Rod Vickers

Jill Mail
Mark O'Connor

Robbie Swan (Sex)
Margaret Webber (Ind)
Brendan Whyte (Ind)

Yerrabi

Five seats were up for election.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates Liberal Democrats candidates Like Canberra
 

Meegan Fitzharris*
Deepak-Raj Gupta
Jayson Hinder
Suzanne Orr*
Michael Pettersson*

Alistair Coe*
Amanda Lynch
James Milligan*
Justin States
Jacob Vadakkedathu

Andrew Braddock
Tobias Holm
Veronica Wensing

Dave Green
Declan Keating

Tim Bohm
Casey Heffernan

Sex Party candidates Sustainable candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Andrew Dewson
Susie Kennett

Paul Gabriel
Violet Sheridan

Mandy Cottingham (AJP)
Daniel Evans
David Pollard (Ind)

Newspaper endorsements

Newspaper Endorsement
The Canberra Times Liberal[17]

See also

Notes

  1. The Australian Capital Territory does not use preferential voting. This calculation is an estimate of preference flows at the previous federal election.[1]

References

  1. "Australian Federal 2pp Estimator".
  2. Commonwealth Parliament. "Australian elections timetable". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  3. "ACT election: Labor Chief Minister Andrew Barr claims victory, says Canberra has voted for light rail". ABC News. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  4. "ACT election final tally announced; Labor holds lead over Liberals". ABC News. 22 October 2016.
  5. "Labor and Greens hammer out deal to see Shane Rattenbury in Cabinet, Joy Burch as Speaker". Canberra Times. 30 October 2016.
  6. "Full Text of the Parliamentary Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory". ABC News. 30 October 2016.
  7. "ACT Legislative Assembly votes to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members from the 2016 election". ACT Electoral Commission. 6 January 2015.
  8. "ACT achieves 'first ever female majority' in parliament as ninth Assembly sworn in". Canberra Times. 31 October 2016.
  9. "Results – ACT Election 2016". ABC Elections. 15 October 2016.
  10. "Election Results 2016". ACT Elections. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  11. "2016 Election timetable". Elections ACT. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  12. "Light rail contract 'will be torn up' if the Canberra Liberals win 2016 ACT election". ABC News. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  13. "Light rail will dominate next year's ACT election. Both main parties have more explaining to do". The Canberra Times. 11 October 2015.
  14. Knaus, Christopher (15 October 2016). "Election win shows comprehensive support for light rail". The Canberra Times.
  15. "ACT election: Labor Chief Minister Andrew Barr claims victory, says Canberra has voted for light rail". ABC News. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  16. "Official political party register". Elections ACT. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  17. "It's time to decide: tram or no tram". The Canberra Times. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
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