Residents of the nation’s capital are voting in an election that will decide whether the ACT’s longest serving chief minister Andrew Barr will maintain his position. The Canberra Liberals haven’t held government for 23 years, with some of their candidates having had a bumpy campaign
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00:00Succeeding Katie Gallagher in 2014, Andrew Barr is now the ACT's longest-serving Chief
00:09Minister. Through this election campaign, he's leaned in to being the only Australian
00:14leader left in office from the early days of the COVID pandemic.
00:18The ACT will enter into a seven-day lockdown from 5pm tonight.
00:24After a string of election losses with comparatively conservative leaders, this term the Liberals
00:30have Elizabeth Lee at the helm. But her party's campaign still had its share
00:34of controversies. MLA Elizabeth Kickett was disendorsed before
00:38joining Family First. A candidate was accused of making offensive
00:42social media posts under a pseudonym. And Miss Lee made national headlines when
00:47her frustration with a journalist boiled over.
00:50I think for Canberrans, I would hope that they don't see literally a second in terms
00:55of where, yes, I accept that I let an emotional reaction get the better of me and judge me
01:02based on that. Instead, she hopes voters have focused on
01:06promises to tackle housing shortages, with a commitment to open up more land for development,
01:11including at Cohen Forest, along with a plan to ease cost of living pressures, which includes
01:17capping rate increases and reducing payroll taxes, proposals that became a point of contention
01:23at the leaders' debate. The Liberal Party are proposing in this campaign
01:27to collect less revenue and spend more, and somehow improve the budget bottom line.
01:35It's magic pudding economics. The fact is that no one should be taking advice
01:39on economic or fiscal policy from the worst treasurer that self-government has ever seen.
01:45The major parties agree the ageing Canberra stadium needs to be replaced, but Labor wants
01:50a new stadium near the Australian Institute of Sport, while the Liberals have proposed
01:54a stadium on the Acton waterfront. Overlay that on West Basin and you see quite
02:00clearly that it's jutting out into the lake. He's really clutching at straws. I mean, clearly
02:06it's an artist's impression. Labor and the Greens still want to cross Lake
02:11Burley Griffin with light rail to Woden as part of a vision of a densified city.
02:16The Liberals remain opposed to the project, but with contracts not expected to be signed
02:20until 2028, tonight's result could determine whether this is Canberra's last light rail
02:27election.