Chief Minister Kate Carnell did the right thing yesterday by refusing to take up the possibility suggested by Independent Paul Osborne to change the Electoral Act to allow an early election to overcome the impasse cause by the Auditor-General’s report into the redevelopment of Bruce Stadium. That report caused Independent Dave Rugendyke to give notice that he would vote in favour of a no-confidence motion in Mrs Carnell. His was the critical number. It meant Mrs Carnell could not survive. Earlier, her Liberal colleagues said they would stand or fall with her. Yesterday, Mrs Carnell said she had rejected her colleagues’ pleas for her to stay, saying that would have resulted in a Labor Government. Rather, she thought Gary Humphries should take over the leadership and, presumably, the Chief Ministership until the scheduled election on the third Saturday in October next year.
That outcome is fairer than having a Labor Government, given that Labor got just 28 per cent of the vote last election. Labor needs more time to develop policies and its leader, Jon Stanhope, must gain more prominence. Also Labor, with just six seats, needs broader representation, including some women MLAs, before it can have a genuine claim to government. That test will properly come in next year’s election.
Mrs Carnell can be credited with doing much for Canberra. She transformed its public finances. She attracted business, particularly new technology, bringing virtually full employment to the city. But the same can-do style brought her undoing as she tried to ignore process and consultation.
The task for Mr Humphries is to maintain the enthusiasm to make Canberra attractive for business, but to ensure processes are adopted as part of getting good decisions, not as an unnecessary chore. He must build up the sort of public service that the city and the Government wants, not the sort that the government wants. He has a difficult task, particularly in minority government. The task will be made slightly easier because his Liberal colleagues will be chastened by the events of the past few weeks and the independents, Paul Osborne and Dave Rugendyke, having been instrumental in the removal of Mrs Carnell will want to be seen to be constructive.
Mrs Carnell was wise to say she would leave the Assembly after a short transition period. That will enable Mr Humphries to retain corporate knowledge which would not have been available if she had gone immediately, but she will not stay around like Banquo’s ghost. It is important for Mr Humphries not to set his own course. His decisions should not be hampered by any need to justify the actions of the previous Government.
That said, Mr Humphries will necessarily carry some of the baggage of the previous Government, though the taunts will not be as effective. He does not have a bad start. Last weekend’s Canberra Times Datacol opinion poll put him marginally ahead of Mr Stanhope as preferred Chief Minister. His main task will be to persuade the people of Canberra that now the hard fiscal work has been done, there will be room to concentrate and, with prudence, spend more on the basics like health, education and roads. He would do well to set in train some open-government reforms, to convince Canberrans that commercial-in-confidence is not a euphemism to misadministration.
And Mr Stanhope must convince Canberrans that while concentrating on the basics, he will not go into an irresponsible spending spree.