ACT Greens say 'business as usual won't cut it' as the party confirms it won't form another coalition with Labor
Shane Rattenbury and the ACT Greens will sit on the crossbench following the October election. (ABC News: Toby Hunt)
In short:
The ACT Legislative Assembly is sitting for the first time since the election this morning.
The Greens have confirmed they will sit on the crossbench rather than joining Labor in another coalition government.
What's next?
Cabinet positions are expected to be announced by Chief Minister Andrew Barr in the next 24 hours.
Labor will form a minority government while the Greens will sit on the crossbench in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
The two parties had been in negotiations since last month's territory election about the possibility of forming another coalition.
But Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said those discussions with Labor hadn't delivered enough of a commitment to address the "big issues" facing the ACT.
"At the election, the Canberra community clearly showed us their desire for something different in politics," Mr Rattenbury said.
"The ACT Greens stepped up to this challenge with a bold and ambitious plan to build more public homes, target our biggest polluter by delivering better public transport and properly investing in environmental restoration across the city.
"Because business as usual won't cut it when we're facing a future where homeownership slips further out of reach, our climate is reaching a point of no return and our natural environment continues to decline.
"But unfortunately over the past two weeks, negotiations with ACT Labor have not delivered enough of a commitment to address these big issues in order to give us confidence that any power-sharing agreement would deliver the level of change that Canberra needs."
ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury says sitting on the crossbench is the best mechanism for the party to push for bolder change. (ABC News: Michael Barnett)
Mr Rattenbury said his party and Labor were in the process of finalising an agreement that will see the adoption of a number of Greens policies in exchange for confidence, supply and support for Andrew Barr as chief minister.
"This document will be released shortly," Mr Rattenbury said.
"By sitting on the crossbench during this term of government, we are confident we are using the best mechanism available to us to push for bolder change and create a better deal for Canberrans — to build public housing, go further, faster on our nation-leading climate action and truly protect and restore our environment."
'Disagreement about what could be achieved': Barr
A spokeswoman for ACT Labor said there had been "extensive and detailed negotiations between ACT Labor and the ACT Greens … conducted in good faith and with mutual respect".
After holding three ministerial positions in the last Assembly the Greens were offered positions in the next cabinet, but declined them.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said that, despite not reaching agreement with their former governing partner, the past several weeks' discussions had been "productive in many instances".
"In a handful of areas, we just haven't been able to reach agreement," Mr Barr said on ABC Radio Canberra.
"I think that was expected, given the various resource constraints that there are on the ACT budget, on our available workforce in particular areas — construction, for example — where we felt what the Greens were seeking was neither practical or affordable in this parliamentary term.
"That doesn't mean we didn't agree on a direction or a focus, but it was largely a disagreement about what could be achieved and what the costs of pouring more resources into a particular area would be, at the expense of other areas of government responsibility."
Andrew Barr said they've had "several weeks of very detailed discussion across pretty much every policy area that the ACT is responsible for". (ABC News: Jostina Basta)
Housing, transport and environmental policy were key points of contention during the negotiations.
In the lead-up to the election the Greens committed to build and buy 10,000 public homes over 10 years, while Labor promised 5,000 additional public, community and affordable homes by 2030.
"In housing, ACT Labor was not prepared to commit to a single extra public home beyond their existing policy," Mr Rattenbury said.
"On climate, we know that transport is responsible for 60 per cent of our emissions, but Labor was not willing to accelerate building light rail or invest properly in active travel.
"On the environment, they were not willing to commit to any specific funding which would scale-up our ambition on environmental protection and restoration."
There are four Greens party members in the new ACT Legislative Assembly. (ABC News: Tobias Hunt)
Labor 'optimistic of supply and confidence agreements with the entire cross bench'
Mr Barr said he believes Labor will have enough experience to fill the cabinet with their own members, and will announce his team in the coming days.
"I would say the ministerial experience within the Labor team would be greater than all of the other parties combined, so yes, we will be able to form a ministry," Mr Barr said.
"Our back bench will not be large so there will be a lot of work for all 10 Labor members, but we are up for that task and up for the collaboration that will will be necessary."
Mr Barr said he'd also conducted negotiations with the new independent MLAs, and he was "optimistic of supply and confidence agreements with the entire cross bench".
Newly elected independent MLA Thomas Emerson confirmed he too has an agreement on supply and confidence in the works with Labor.
"We'll have terms of that published later on today, so we'll sign that this morning," Mr Emerson said on ABC Radio Canberra.
"We've been talking about administrative arrangements and also some policy related commitments that we heard from our community are really important to people in areas like elective surgery wait times, environmental conservation."
Thomas Emerson said he's "excited to get in there and work constructively with all sides". (ABC News: Saskia Mabin)
Mr Emerson welcomed the fact the Assembly will function slightly differently this term with the Greens on the crossbench.
"The Greens are responding to a desire that we certainly heard throughout our campaign and the community, for a genuine crossbench holding the government to account," he said.
"It'll be certainly a change in the composition the assembly and how it operates. So I'm excited to get in there and work constructively with all sides."
Assembly sits for the first time to swear in members
The ACT Legislative Assembly sat today for the first time since the election.
Andrew Barr was appointed for another term as chief minister, while Canberra Liberals MLA Mark Parton was appointed speaker of the assembly.
Leanne Castley, who last week defeated Elizabeth Lee for the leadership of the Canberra Liberals, was appointed opposition leader.
Mr Barr has said he will announce his cabinet in the next 24 hours.
Rare to form majority government in the ACT
There has only been one majority government in the history of the ACT Legislative Assembly, when Labor won nine of the then-17 seat parliament in 2004.
The Greens held three ministerial portfolios in the previous assembly. (ABC News: Lottie Twyford)
After losing their majority at the 2008 election, Labor were supported by the Greens, and the two parties entered a power sharing arrangement in 2012, when Mr Rattenbury held the balance of power and was appointed to Katy Gallagher's cabinet.
Mr Rattenbury was reelected in 2016, along with Greens colleague Caroline Le Couture, and was again appointed to cabinet.
The Greens won another four seats — for a total of six — at the 2020 election and Mr Rattenbury was joined in cabinet by Rebecca Vassarott and Emma Davidson.
Both Ms Vassarotti and Ms Davidson lost their seats at the October poll to independents Thomas Emerson and Fiona Carrick.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr hadn't ruled out seeking to work with the new independent MLAs, but a deal with both still wouldn't be enough for a 13 seat majority in the now-25 seat assembly.
Seeking talks with the Greens after the election was cited as a reason former Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee lost the support of her colleagues. That effectively ruled out the possibility the Canberra Liberals would seek to form a government with the minor party.
In a statement shortly before negotiations concluded last night, a spokesperson for Mr Barr said the goal of the negotiations was "to deliver progressive and stable government that can deliver for Canberra over the next four years".