CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher and Opposition Leader Zed Seselja faced off today for the first and only debate of the ACT election campaign at the National Gallery of Australia.

The debate didn’t get quite as heated as was anticipated, with both leaders rarely straying from their party lines – Ms Gallagher focusing on health, education and jobs, and Mr Seselja speaking on cost of living and local services.

But radio presenter and debate moderator Ross Solly kicked off the debate into controversial territory by referencing Ms Gallagher’s criticised performance in the health portfolio after the data doctoring scandal, and Mr Zeselja’s failure to submit timesheets.

He asked both leaders:“If you can’t manage your portfolio, can you manage the territory?”

Mr Zeselja said he was “regretful” of his timesheet blunder but hopes “people will judge me not on one or two mistakes but on the way I have held office over the years.”

Ms Gallagher didn’t look impressed about once again defending the health portfolio, drily responding: “Ah, the health system, I love it.”

“I think the health system will always be changing,” she said.

“Find me a health system that doesn’t need fixing – there’s no such thing as a perfect health system.”

Ms Gallagher said Labor will however continue to work on improving the system, and that she doesn’t govern with a “four year clock in front of me.”

“These things take time, it’s not overnight. We want to start with health..this is a system with momentum,” she said.

Ms Gallagher also claimed the opposition’s accusations that Labor would“triple rates” were “lies.”

“There is no plan to triple rates – that’s a lie,” she said.

“33,000 houses will get a rate cut…and rates will grow over time.”

But Mr Seselja argued that The Quinlan Tax Review “clearly says rates will triple.”

“I’m looking forward to a statement from Labor saying there will be no triple rates,” he said.

Mr Zeselja also accused Ms Gallagher of mishandling its priorities.

“There’s a policy for needles in prisons, but we don’t even have a green bin, which has been found to be very effective in other states,” he said.

“There’s a mismatch there.”

When grilled by Ms Gallagher how Liberals will pay for all their promises, Mr Zeselja said “by making tough choices” but denied that there would be any public service cuts – “we will be hiring, not firing.”

This Friday marks the commencement of the caretaker period for the ACT Government before polling day on October 20.

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Photos by Silas Brown