Every line, line by line of the Budget was approved by the Legislative Assembly going into the early hours of yesterday morning. But when it came to voting the Budget as a whole into law it was voted down.
The trouble was that differently composed majorities voted for different lines and no majority held for the whole.
Should the Chief Minister resign or be sacked if she won’t?
The answer to that question lies in the fact that, strictly speaking, the ACT does not have a Westminster system of Government. Rather it has a detailed written constitution in the form of the Self-Government Act, an Act of the Federal Parliament. It does not provide for a figurehead — Governor-General, President, King, Governor or an Administrator — to preside over such impasses, unlike in the states or federally. Rather it provides for self-executing procedures to obviate that need. It was probably done to save money rather than to chart new constitutional waters.
The principal functions of a figurehead are to dissolve parliament and call and election and to appoint and dismiss the prime or chief minister or premier. In the ACT the election date is fixed. Once members are elected to the Assembly they must elect a chief minister who in turn chooses ministers. They can vote a Chief Minister out. If they do, there next item of business must be to elect a new Chief Minister.
In contrast, the Federal Constitutional does not mention how prime ministers come and go. It is left to convention and the Governor-General using reserve powers.
In the light of the detailed way the Assembly can elect and remove the chief minister, the Budget must be seen as a separate issue. Despite the defeat of her Government’s Budget, Chief Minister Kate Carnell can continue in office until a majority in the Assembly vote her out of office.
The Self-Government Act does provide exceptions — if the Assembly is incapable of effectively performing its functions or if it is conducting its affairs in a grossly improper manner. In those cases the federal Minister for territories could advice the Governor-General to dissolve the Assembly and order an election. The new Assembly would just complete the 15 months remaining in this term.
It may be that one majority (Dave Rugendyke, Paul Osborne, 6 Labor and a Green) keeps rejecting the Budget and another majority (Rugendyke, Osborne, Michael Moore and 6 Liberals) keeps supporting Mrs Carnell as Chief Minister because they do not want a Labor Government. That would render the Assembly incapable and lead to an early election. Presumably someone would blink first. Presumably, Mrs Carnell would present the Budget in two separate Bills: one without the heroin injecting room getting a majority of 6 Liberals, Moore, Osborne and Rugendyke (presuming the last two are not now angered into general revolt) and a single appropriation Bill for the injecting room which would get a majority with Labor’s support.
That might become the pattern for future Budgets. Messy. More power to independents. But it would prevent funding for things that did not have majority support in the Assembly. And it would permit even more grandstanding than we have now.