Australian Capital Territory general election, 2016

15 October 2016

All 25 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority

	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	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 seats	11 seats	2 seats
Seat change	4	3	1
Percentage	38.4%	36.7%	10.3%
Swing	0.5	2.2	0.5

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.^[1]

The 15-year incumbent Australian Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, successfully 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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]^[5]

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.^[6]

Results

Australian Capital Territory general election, 15 October 2016^[7]^[8] Legislative Assembly << 2012 — 2020 >>
Enrolled voters		283,162
Votes cast		249,840		Turnout	88.2%	−1.2
Informal votes		5,768		Informal	2.3%	−1.2
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	93,770	38.4	−0.5	12	+4
	Liberal	89,576	36.7	−2.2	11	+3
	Greens	25,109	10.3	−0.5	2	+1
	Sex Party	7,478	3.1	+3.1	0	0
	Liberal Democrats	5,029	2.1	+1.0	0	0
	Sustainable Australia	3,839	1.6	+1.6	0	0
	Animal Justice	3,680	1.5	+1.5	0	0
	Like Canberra	2,636	1.1	+1.1	0	0
	Canberra Community Voters	1,711	0.7	+0.7	0	0
	Community Alliance	415	0.2	+0.2	0	0
	Ungrouped	10,829	4.4	+2.6	0	0
Total		244,072			25

Primary vote by electorate

	Brindabella	Ginninderra	Kurrajong	Murrumbidgee	Yerrabi
Australian Labor Party	33.6%	41.3%	38.5%	34.5%	43.9%
Liberal Party of Australia	41.9%	32.0%	31.0%	42.8%	35.8%
ACT Greens	5.1%	9.7%	18.8%	10.6%	7.1%
Sex Party	7.9%	0.0%	0.0%	3.5%	4.0%
Liberal Democrats	2.5%	1.2%	2.2%	1.6%	2.7%
Other	6.6%	14.8%	8.4%	4.8%	5.6%

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^[9]

Background

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, the first time the ACT elected a parliamentary majority. Labor again formed a minority government after the 2008 election resulted in a Green balance of power – Labor seven seats, Liberal six seats, Greens four seats. Stanhope resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 12 May 2011, and was replaced by his deputy, Katy Gallagher.

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 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.

Electorates to be used for the 2016 election.

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

Brindabella – contains the district of Tuggeranong (except the suburb of Kambah).
Ginninderra – contains the district of Belconnen (except the suburbs of Evatt, Giralang, Kaleen, McKellar and Lawson).
Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central and Majura
Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of the Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Molonglo Valley and the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah.
Yerrabi – contains the districts of Gungahlin, Hall and the Belconnen suburbs of Evatt, Giralang, Kaleen, McKellar and Lawson.

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

Candidates

Registered parties

Twelve parties were registered with the ACT Electoral Office as eligible for the October 2016 election, ten of which nominated candidates for the election.^[10]

Animal Justice Party
Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch)
Australian Sex Party ACT
Canberra Community Voters
Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Party of Australia (A.C.T. Division)
Like Canberra
Sustainable Australia (ACT)
The ACT Greens
The Community Alliance Party (ACT)
The Flux Party – ACT (did not contest)
VoteCanberra (did not contest)

Retiring members

Labor

Simon Corbell (Molonglo)