The Osborne Group’s Dave Rugendyke had won the last seat in Ginninderra at close of counting in the ACT election yesterday.
With Paul Osborne elected in Brindabella and the seven Liberals it means Kate Carnell has the nine seats needed for a majority in the Assembly, without needing to rely on Independent Michael Moore or the Greens.
(This presumes the Osborne Group will not do the unthinkable and support Labor — which got 27 per cent of the vote — under a new leader.)
Trevor Kaine won the final Liberal seat in Brindabella from Louise Littlewood by a mere 45 votes.
The final standing of the Assembly is: Liberal 7, Labor 6, Osborne Group 2, Michael Moore and the Greens’ Kerrie Tucker.
The Molonglo count is still going. Mr Moore and Ms Tucker have not yet been formally elected, but their position seems unassailable. Labor will win two seats in Molonglo but who gets them will depend on preferences — probably Ted Quinlan and Steve Garth, but sitting MLA Simon Corbell is not out of the running.
The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury lost the seat to Mr Rugendyke because of a very poor flow of Democrat preferences. The Greens got less than a third of them. About 48 per cent of Democrat voters stopped at five votes in the Democrat column. The rest went to other candidates.
Mr Rugendyke, on the other hand, picked up a steady flow of preferences from major and minor party candidates and independents as they were excluded through the count.
The election has swung the Assembly and the Government to the right.
In the past three years Mrs Carnell had to rely on Michael Moore or the Greens in addition to Mr Osborne. They then had a significant influence on legislation, policy and Assembly procedure. Now she needs only the Osborne Group to support legislation and procedural matters.