If Independents for Canberra MLAs hold the balance of power after this year’s ACT Election, they will seek to prevent the same person from being both Chief Minister and Treasurer concurrently.
The leader of Independents for Canberra, Thomas Emerson, said the group was responding to community concerns about the concentration of power in the Chief Minister’s office.
“Democracy thrives on dynamic tension,” Mr Emerson said.
“It is well known that very little happens in the ACT without the say-so of our current Chief Minister, who is also the Treasurer.
“Other Labor-Greens ministers seem to have little capacity to challenge ‘the Chief’.
“We've recently heard from the Greens Environment Minister that the Cabinet is unwilling to deliver a more ambitious environmental policy. When the minister responsible for the environment can’t actually deliver better environmental outcomes, Canberrans are rightly asking, ‘Who is the Cabinet, exactly?’
“Allowing the leader to also hold the purse strings risks threatening the integrity of our democracy. The current Chief Minister surely knows that, which is why he promised to hand over the Treasury portfolio after the 2020 election.
“That promise was not upheld. The question is: why not?”
The Chief Minister was quoted in The Canberra Times, on 7 November 2020, as saying:
"There will be a handover and it's just a case of whether that is in 2022 or 2023 will depend on where we are with the economic recovery.”
Independents for Canberra has declared its commitment to a new kind of politics, with candidates promising more accountability, transparency and responsiveness as independent MLAs.
“We need more checks and balances in the Legislative Assembly,” Mr Emerson added.
“Lacking an upper house, the ACT’s unicameral parliamentary system is set up for minority government, where genuine negotiation and ongoing compromise are commonplace. That’s been thwarted by Labor and the Greens working as a coalition.
“Canberrans want to be participants in a living democracy, not spectators to a perpetual power-sharing arrangement. People want to see an open debate where a genuine contest of ideas is not only possible, but encouraged.”
Media Contact:
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