2020 Australian Capital Territory election

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The 2020 Australian Capital Territory election was held on 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.

2020 Australian Capital Territory election
← 2016 17 October 2020 2024 →
All 25 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout89.3% ( 1.0 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Andrew Barr Alistair Coe Shane Rattenbury
Party Labor Liberal Greens
Leader since 11 December 2014 25 October 2016 20 October 2012
Leader's seat Kurrajong Yerrabi Kurrajong
Last election 12 seats, 38.4% 11 seats, 36.7% 2 seats, 10.3%
Seats won 10 9 6
Seat change 2 2 4
Primary vote 101,826 91,047 36,369
Percentage 37.8% 33.8% 13.5%
Swing 0.6 2.9 3.2
Results by electorate
Chief Minister before election

Andrew Barr
Labor–Greens Coalition

Elected Chief Minister

Andrew Barr
Labor–Greens Coalition

The incumbent Labor-Greens coalition government, led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, defeated the opposition Liberal Party. On the night of the election Barr claimed victory and confirmed Labor would again seek to enter into an arrangement with the Greens to form government, whilst Liberal leader Alistair Coe conceded the election and acknowledged the party would retain opposition status in the Assembly. The result meant that the Labor Party, which had been in office for 19 years at this election, won a sixth consecutive term of government in the Territory. Despite the victory, Labor's representation in the Assembly dropped to 10 seats, whilst the Liberals also suffered a decline in their vote and fell to 9 seats. The Greens retained the balance of power and picked up the seats lost by the two larger parties to claim 6 seats, its largest representation in the Assembly in the party's history. Following the election, Labor and the Greens signed an agreement on 2 November to support a Labor-led Government with three ministers from the Greens.

The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission, using the proportional Hare-Clark system. At the preliminary close of rolls, there were 302,630 people enrolled to vote, representing a 6% increase on the 2016 election. Legislative changes in the Australian Capital Territory allowed for people to enrol during polling, with a further 3,370 electors enrolling before polling finished on 17 October.

Background

The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr was attempting to win re-election for a sixth term in the 25-member unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. Labor formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the 2016 election, with the Greens holding the balance of power; Labor 12 seats, Liberal 11 seats, Greens 2 seats. Greens member Shane Rattenbury remained in the cabinet for a second term. Leader of the Opposition and Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson was replaced by Alistair Coe following the election.

All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly was divided into five electorates with five members each:

  • Brindabella – contains the district of Tuggeranong (except part of the suburb of Kambah east of Drakeford Drive), as well as the southern village of Tharwa and farms.
  • Ginninderra – contains the district of Belconnen (except the suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen).
  • Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central (excluding Deakin and Yarralumla), Jerrabomberra, Kowen and Majura.
  • Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of the Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Molonglo Valley, the South Canberra suburbs of Deakin and Yarralumla and the western part of the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah.
  • Yerrabi – contains the districts of Gungahlin, Hall and the Belconnen suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen.

Key dates

  • Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2020
  • Party registration closed: 10 September 2020
  • Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 11 September 2020
  • Rolls close: 18 September 2020 (8pm)
  • Nominations close: 23 September 2020 (12pm)
  • Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 24 September 2020
  • Pre-poll voting commences: 28 September 2020
  • Polling day: 17 October 2020
  • Last day for receipt of postal votes: 23 October 2020

Redistribution

A redistribution of electoral boundaries for the ACT took place in 2019 for the 2020 election. The redistribution committee was appointed on 26 October 2018, and its final report was tabled on 13 August 2019.

Changes were as follows:

  • Brindabella: gained Kambah West from Murrumbidgee.
  • Ginninderra: gained Belconnen District 2, Evatt, Lawson and McKellar from Yerrabi.
  • Kurrajong: lost Deakin and Yarralumla to Murrumbidgee.
  • Murrumbidgee: gained Deakin and Yarralumla from Kurrajong; lost Kambah West to Brindabella.
  • Yerrabi: lost Belconnen District 2, Evatt, Lawson and McKellar to Ginninderra.

Retiring members

Liberal

  • Vicki Dunne (Ginninderra)

Greens

  • Caroline Le Couteur (Murrumbidgee)

Candidates

137 candidates were formally declared for 2020 ACT Election on 24 September, with the total number of candidates down four from 2016's total. Of the 137 candidates, 129 were registered to political parties and eight were independents.

As part of the formal declaration, the candidates' names and any political party affiliation were announced, followed by a 'double randomisation' draw for each electorate to determine the order in which each party will appear on the ballot paper. A further draw then took place determining the starting order for the Robson rotations in each column. Under the Robson rotation system, 60 different versions of the ballot papers were printed for each electorate.

Sitting members are in bold. Successful candidates are identified with an asterisk.

Brindabella

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending three seats.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates AJP candidates LDP candidates
 

Joy Burch*
Cathy Day
Brendan Forde
Mick Gentleman*
Taimus Werner-Gibbings

James Daniels
Jane Hiatt
Nicole Lawder*
Mark Parton*
Andrew Wall

Johnathan Davis*
Sue Ellerman
Laura Nuttall

Jannah Fahiz
Robyn Soxsmith

Jacob Gowor
Matthew Knight

Sustainable candidates SFF candidates Federation candidates
 

Andrew Clapham
Bruce Willett

Greg Baynham
Adrian Olley

Jason Potter
Scott Sandford

Ginninderra

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates Belco Party candidates AJP candidates LDP candidates
 

Yvette Berry*
Tara Cheyne*
Sue Ducker
Greg Lloyd
Gordon Ramsay

Peter Cain*
Robert Gunning
Elizabeth Kikkert*
Kacey Lam
Ignatius Rozario

Jo Clay*
Tim Liersch
Katt Millner

Vijay Dubey
Chic Henry
Angela Lount
Bill Stefaniak
Alan Tutt

Carolyne Drew
Lara Drew

Dominic De Luca
Guy Jakeman

Sustainable candidates SFF candidates DLP candidates CCJ candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Paul Gabriel
Mark O'Connor

Matthew Ogilvie
Oliver Smith

Helen McClure
Ian McClure

Oksana Demetrios
Sok Kheng Ngep
Jonathan Stavridis

Mignonne Cullen (Ind)

Kurrajong

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 Progressives candidates AJP candidates
 

Judy Anderson
Andrew Barr*
Jacob Ingram
Maddy Northam
Rachel Stephen-Smith*

Candice Burch
Rattesh Gumber
Robert Johnson
Elizabeth Lee*
Patrick Pentony

Adriana Boisen
Michael Brewer
Shane Rattenbury*
Rebecca Vassarotti*

Tim Bohm
Peta Anne Bryant
Therese Faulkner

Serrin Rutledge-Prior
Julie Smith

Sustainable candidates CCJ candidates Community candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Joy Angel
John Haydon

Sophia Forner
Petar Johnson
Alix O'Hara

Alvin Hopper
Robyn Williams

Marilena Damiano (Ind)
Bruce Paine (Ind)

Murrumbidgee

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 Progressives candidates CCJ candidates
 

Bec Cody
Tim Dobson
Brendan Long
Marisa Paterson*
Chris Steel*

Ed Cocks
Jeremy Hanson*
Giulia Jones*
Amardeep Singh
Sarah Suine

Terry Baker
Emma Davidson*
Tjanara Goreng Goreng

Robert Knight
Stephen Lin

Rohan Byrnes
Andrew Demetrios
Richard Forner
Jackson Hillman
Peter Veenstra

AJP candidates Sustainable candidates SFF candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

Yana del Valle
Edmund Handby

Geoff Buckmaster
Jill Mail

Mark Gilmayer
Gordon Yeatman

Fiona Carrick (Ind)
Lee Perren-Leveridge (Ind)
Brendan Whyte (Ind)

Yerrabi

Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats.

Labor candidates Liberal candidates Greens candidates Progressives candidates AJP candidates
 

Tom Fischer
Deepak-Raj Gupta
Suzanne Orr*
Michael Pettersson*
Georgia Phillips

Leanne Castley*
Alistair Coe*
James Milligan
Krishna Nadimpalli
Jacob Vadakkedathu

Andrew Braddock*
Mainul Haque

Mike Stelzig
Bethany Williams

Bernie Brennan
Francine Horne

Sustainable candidates DLP candidates Pollard candidates Ungrouped candidates
 

John Kearsley
Scott Young

Olivia Helmore
Bernie Strang

David Pollard
Stephanie Pollard

Mohammad Munir Hussain (AFP)
Helen Cross (Ind)
Fuxin Li (Ind)

Campaign

Controversies

Liberal candidate for Kurrajong, Robert Johnson, was alleged to have been the director of the ACT branch of the Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, an organisation belonging to the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, which is an umbrella organisation connected to the Chinese Communist Party, according to a 9 October 2020 article from the Canberra Times, which claims that his appointment to the position was reported on the parent organisation's official website. An earlier Canberra Times article from 2 October 2020 also reported that Robert Johnson had featured in a China Central Television documentary which claimed that he served in the Australian Army in Afghanistan. In 2014, he was a standing committee member of the Jiangsu Overseas Exchange Association, within the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Government. ACT Liberals leader Alistair Coe denies allegations that Robert Johnson, who is also known as Jiang Jialiang (江嘉梁), has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Results

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Labor101,82637.82 0.6110 2
Liberal91,04733.81 2.919 2
Greens36,36913.51 3.236 4
Ungrouped Independents6,6252.46 1.980 0
Progressives5,4432.02 2.020 0
Belco5,2641.96New0New
Animal Justice4,7621.77 0.260 0
Sustainable Australia4,5931.71 0.140 0
Democratic Labour3,8641.44 0.620 0
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers3,7791.40 1.400 0
Climate Change Justice Party1,8490.69 0.690 0
David Pollard Independent1,7290.64New0New
Liberal Democrats1,2090.45 1.610 0
Australian Federation7100.26 0.260 0
Community Action1830.07 0.100 0
Total269,252100.00–25–
Valid votes269,25298.58
Invalid/blank votes3,8921.42
Total votes273,144100.00
Registered voters/turnout306,00089.26
Source:
Seats changing hands
New MLA Electorate Predecessor Ref.
Green Johnathan Davis Brindabella Liberal Andrew Wall
Green Jo Clay Ginninderra Labor Gordon Ramsay
Liberal Peter Cain Ginninderra Liberal Vicki Dunne (retired)
Green Rebecca Vassarotti Kurrajong Liberal Candice Burch
Labor Marisa Paterson Murrumbidgee Labor Bec Cody
Green Emma Davidson Murrumbidgee Green Caroline Le Couteur (retired)
Green Andrew Braddock Yerrabi Labor Deepak-Raj Gupta
Liberal Leanne Castley Yerrabi Liberal James Milligan

Primary vote by electorate

Brindabella Ginninderra Kurrajong Murrumbidgee Yerrabi
ACT Labor 40.7% 40.0% 38.0% 36.1% 34.2%
Canberra Liberals 38.4% 26.7% 27.6% 35.6% 40.6%
ACT Greens 10.8% 12.5% 23.0% 11.7% 10.2%
Progressives 0.0% 0.0% 5.0% 2.7% 2.7%
Animal Justice 2.2% 1.7% 1.6% 2.0% 1.3%
Other 7.8% 19.1% 4.8% 11.9% 11.1%

Distribution of seats

Electorate Seats held
Brindabella          
Ginninderra          
Kurrajong          
Murrumbidgee          
Yerrabi          
  Labor
  Liberal
  Green

Labor won 43% of the three-party vote, the Liberals won 39% and the Greens won 18%.

Opinion polling

Voting intention

Date Firm Sample
size 		Political parties
ALP LIB GRN OTH
17 Oct 2020 2020 election 37.8% 33.8% 13.5% 14.9%
29 Sep 2020 ClubsACT 1,320 36.1% 38.6% 9.6% 15.7%
9 Aug 2020 uComms 1,049 37.6% 38.2% 14.6% 9.3%
15 Oct 2016 2016 election 38.4% 36.7% 10.3% 14.6%

See also

  • Labor–Greens coalition
  • Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, 2016–2020

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