The 2024 Australian Capital Territory election was held on 19 October 2024 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.
19 October 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 25 seats in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 86.8% ( 2.5 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by electorate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The centre-left Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, which had been in government in the territory since the 2001 election, and in coalition with the progressive Greens since 2012, sought to win a seventh consecutive term in office. They were challenged by the centre-right Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, as well as several minor parties and independent candidates. Lee is the first Asian Australian leader of a state or territory opposition.
Following several hours of vote counting, media outlets and election analysts projected Labor had won the election, having won sufficient seats to form a government with the support of the Greens and potentially other crossbenchers. Labor won 10 seats in the assembly, steady with their result in the previous election, though the party did suffer a swing against them of more than three percent.
The Liberal vote slipped by around half a point and the party retained nine seats. The Greens' vote also dropped, in this case by slightly above one percent, and ministers Rebecca Vassarotti and Emma Davidson lost their seats to reduce the party's share of seats in the chamber to four. The swings against these parties were picked up by minor parties and independents, resulting in Thomas Emerson of the Independents for Canberra party winning a seat in Kurrajong and Fiona Carrick (who ran under an eponymous party banner) winning the final seat in Murrumbidgee. This would be the first election since 2001 that a party other than Labor, Liberal or The Greens won a seat.
Unlike the previous three elections, Labor and the Greens did not enter into a coalition government in the eleventh assembly. On 6 November 2024, Greens leader Shane Rattenbury stated that negotiations between the two parties had not advanced to the stage that would necessitate a power-sharing arrangement. The two parties unveiled a confidence and supply agreement later that day, in which the Greens pledged to provide confidence and supply to a minority Labor government.
The election was conducted by Elections ACT.
Background
Labor was attempting to win re-election for a seventh consecutive term (either with a majority of seats or via forming a coalition with another party) in the 25-member unicameral Legislative Assembly. The party formed a coalition government with the Greens after the last election, and together the two parties held 16 of the 25 seats in the Assembly. Elizabeth Lee replaced Alistair Coe as Liberal leader and Leader of the Opposition following the party's defeat at the 2020 election.
The composition of the assembly was unchanged until 12 November 2023, when Greens MLA Johnathan Davis resigned from the assembly and as a member of the Greens. He was replaced by Laura Nuttall after a countback was conducted.
In September 2024, Ginninderra MLA Elizabeth Kikkert was disendorsed by the Liberals over alleged breaches of the Electoral Act 1992 and allegations of bullying of party staff. On 24 September 2024, she subsequently joined the Family First Party and unsuccessfully sought re-election in the seat under her new party's banner.
Electoral system
The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission, also known as Elections ACT. All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly is divided into five electorates with five members elected from each electorate:
- Brindabella – contains the district of Tuggeranong.
- Ginninderra – contains the district of Belconnen (except the suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen).
- Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central (excluding Deakin, Forrest, Red Hill, and Yarralumla), Jerrabomberra, Kowen and Majura.
- Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of the Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Molonglo Valley, and the South Canberra suburbs of Deakin, Forrest, Red Hill, and Yarralumla.
- Yerrabi – contains the districts of Gungahlin, Hall and the Belconnen suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen.
Parties
The list of parties registered at the time the election was called was:
- Animal Justice Party
- Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch)
- Belco Party (ACT)
- Canberra Progressives (did not run in this election)
- Democratic Labour Party (DLP)
- Family First Party (ACT)
- Fiona Carrick Independent
- First Nation Party
- Independents for Canberra
- Liberal Party of Australia (A.C.T. Division)
- Libertarian Party
- Strong Independents
- Sustainable Australia Party – Universal Basic Income (did not run in this election)
- The ACT Greens
- The Community Action Party (did not run in this election)
Retiring members
Labor
- Joy Burch (Brindabella) – announced retirement on 8 August 2023
Liberal
- Nicole Lawder (Brindabella) – announced retirement on 20 October 2023
Candidates
On 25 September the full list of candidates was finalised.
A record number of 149 candidates ran.
Brindabella
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Independents for Canberra candidates | Animal Justice candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louise Crossman Brendan Forde Mick Gentleman Caitlin Tough* Taimus Werner-Gibbings* | James Daniels Rosa Harber Sandi Mitra Deborah Morris* Mark Parton* | Laura Nuttall* Sam Nugent Troy Swan | Riley Fernandes Vanessa Picker Elise Searson | Gareth Ballard Robyn Soxsmith |
| Family First candidates | First Nations candidates | Ungrouped candidates | ||
| Bruce Gartshore Merle Graham | Wendy Brookman Jack McDougall Dylan Robb | Emmanuel Ezekiel-Hart |
Ginninderra
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Independents for Canberra candidates | Animal Justice candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yvette Berry* Tim Bavinton Tara Cheyne* Heidi Prowse Sean Sadimoen | Chiaka Barry* Peter Cain* Joe Prevedello Darren Roberts | Jo Clay* Dani Hunterford Tim Liersch Adele Sinclair | Leanne Foresti Suzanne Nucifora Mark Richardson | Carolyn Drew Lara Drew |
| Belco Party candidates | Family First candidates | Libertarian candidates | Labour DLP candidates | Ungrouped candidates |
| Angela Lount Bill Stefaniak Alan Tutt | Sunil Baby Elizabeth Kikkert Andrew Wallace | Guy Jakeman Arved Von Busch | Douglas Cooper Helen Crowe Rick Howard Maxwell Spencer John Vanderburgh | Mignonne Cullen Janine Haskins |
Kurrajong
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Independents for Canberra candidates | Animal Justice candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Barr* Aggi Court Martin Greenwood Rachel Stephen-Smith* Marina Talevski | Ramon Bouckaert Mick Calatzis Elizabeth Lee* Sarah Luscombe Patrick Pentony | James Cruz Isabel Mudford Shane Rattenbury* Jillian Reid Rebecca Vassarotti | Thomas Emerson* Ben Johnston Tenzin Mayne Sara Poguet Sue Read | Walter Kudrycz Teresa McTaggart |
| Strong Independents candidates | Family First candidates | First Nations candidates | Labour DLP candidates | Ungrouped candidates |
| Ann Bray Peter Strong | Andrew Adair Jenny Hentzschel | Rhiannon Connors Thaddeus Connors Paul Girrawah House Harrison Pike Jessika Spencer | Belinda Haley Boston White | Marilena Damiano |
Murrumbidgee
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Independents for Canberra candidates | Animal Justice candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noor El-Asadi Marisa Paterson* Chris Steel* Nelson Tang Anna Whitty | Ed Cocks* Jeremy Hanson* Elyse Heslehurst Amardeep Singh Karen Walsh | Michael Brewer Sam Carter Emma Davidson Harini Rangarajan | Kathleen Bolt Anne-Louise Dawes Robert Knight Paula McGrady Nathan Naicker | Gwenda Griffiths Ashleigh Griffiths-Smith |
| Family First candidates | Fiona Carrick Independent candidates | Ungrouped candidates | ||
| Andrew Copp Andy Verri | Fiona Carrick* Marea Fatseas Bruce Paine | Rima Diab |
Yerrabi
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Independents for Canberra candidates | Belco Party candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzanne Orr* Michael Pettersson* Mallika Raj Pradeep Sornaraj Ravinder Sahni | Leanne Castley* Ralitsa Dimitrova James Milligan* John Mikita Krishna Nadimpalli | Andrew Braddock* Soelily Consen-Lynch Alex Gias | Sneha KC Vikram Kulkarni David Pollard Trent Pollard | Greg Burke Jason Taylor |
| Family First candidates | First Nations candidates | Labour DLP candidates | Ungrouped candidates | |
| Greg Amos Henry Kivimaki | Lisa Barnes Michael Duncan Kye Moggridge Cooper Pike Tyson Powell | Michael Hanna Colin Joery | Fuxin Li Mohammad Munir Hassan Joanne McKinley (AJP) |
Campaign
The election period began on 13 September, when candidate nominations opened. On 24 September, nominations closed, and the following day, the randomly allocated ballot draw was announced.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr launched the ACT Labor campaign on 13 September, alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and former Chief Minister and current federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher. Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee launched the Canberra Liberals' campaign on 5 October, alongside former Chief Minister Kate Carnell.
Prominent campaign issues included infrastructure (particularly proposals for a new stadium in Civic), public transport (especially light rail), and housing.
Much of the messaging of opposition candidates focused on the fact that the Labor Party have led the Government of the Australian Capital Territory for the last 23 years. If Andrew Barr wins re-election, he would become the only incumbent premier or chief minister to have won three elections, following the resignations of Daniel Andrews and Annastacia Palaszczuk in late 2023. The presence of many independents among the candidates, including but not limited to the new political grouping Independents for Canberra, was also notable.
Controversy
Certain individual candidates attracted controversy during the course of the campaign.
On 25 September, Liberal candidate Darren Roberts was accused by Labor of posting offensive content online related to the Voice to Parliament and dual naming, using a pseudonym account.
On 3 October, reports emerged that Liberal MLA Peter Cain, when he worked as a schoolteacher in 2002, wrote a workbook on Australian history that presented a Christian white savior narrative and did not mention the frontier wars.
On 10 October, Greens candidate Harini Rangajaran was found to have written a blog post about martyrdom in 2023, a creative writing exercise that made mention of idolising Osama bin Laden.
On 14 October, Greens candidate James Cruz was criticised for comments made in Facebook posts in 2014 and 2015, in which he expressed an apparent desire to "kill politicians" who enabled immigration detention, and an indifference towards the killing of Israeli soldiers.
Lastly, on 16 October, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee made headlines when she was filmed giving the finger to a journalist at the end of a combative press conference.
Results
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 93,569 | 34.15 | 3.67 | 10 | 0 | |
| Liberal | 91,652 | 33.45 | 0.36 | 9 | 0 | |
| Greens | 33,368 | 12.18 | 1.33 | 4 | 2 | |
| Independents for Canberra | 23,328 | 8.51 | New | 1 | New | |
| Fiona Carrick Independent | 7,302 | 2.66 | New | 1 | New | |
| Family First | 6,643 | 2.42 | New | 0 | New | |
| Animal Justice | 3,703 | 1.35 | 0.42 | 0 | 0 | |
| First Nation | 3,586 | 1.31 | New | 0 | New | |
| Ungrouped Independents | 3,540 | 1.29 | 1.17 | 0 | 0 | |
| Belco | 3,508 | 1.28 | 0.68 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democratic Labour | 2,283 | 0.83 | 0.61 | 0 | 0 | |
| Strong Independents | 1,131 | 0.41 | New | 0 | New | |
| Libertarian | 399 | 0.15 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 274,012 | 100.00 | – | 25 | – | |
| Valid votes | 274,012 | 98.10 | ||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 5,320 | 1.90 | ||||
| Total votes | 279,332 | 100.00 | ||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 321,721 | 86.82 | ||||
| Source: | ||||||
| New MLA | Electorate | Predecessor | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Taimus Werner-Gibbings | Brindabella | Labor | Mick Gentleman | |||
| Labor | Caitlin Tough | Brindabella | Labor | Joy Burch (retired) | |||
| Liberal | Deborah Morris | Brindabella | Liberal | Nicole Lawder (retired) | |||
| Liberal | Chiaka Barry | Ginninderra | Independent | Elizabeth Kikkert (Liberal-turned-independent, ran as Family First) | |||
| IFC | Thomas Emerson | Kurrajong | Green | Rebecca Vassarotti | |||
| FCI | Fiona Carrick | Murrumbidgee | Green | Emma Davidson | |||
Distribution of seats
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See also
- Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, 2020–2024
- 2024 Pittwater state by-election (same day election)
- 2024 Hornsby state by-election (same day election)
- 2024 Epping state by-election (same day election)
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